164 THE ATLANTIC. [chap. iii. 



which used to be the favorite haunts of the fur-seal and the sea- 

 elephant; but these have been nearly exterminated, and the 

 annual visit of the sealers from Tristan is rapidly reducing the 

 small number which still come to the island in the pupping 

 season. 



The ship stopped off the east end of the island to land sur- 

 veying and exploring parties at the foot of what looked at a 

 distance like a gentle slope of meadow with some thickets of 

 low trees, running up into the middle of the island, between 

 the two elevations. 



The party who landed found, however, that instead of a 

 meadow the slope was a thick copse of tussock-grass — and one 

 mass of penguins. Struggling through the dense matted grass 

 which reached above their heads, they could not see where they 

 were going, and they could not move a step without crushing 

 eggs or old or young birds. The crowds of penguins resenting 

 the intrusion with all the vigor at tlieir command, yelled and 

 groaned and scrambled after their legs, and bit and pecked them 

 with their strong sharp beaks till the blood came. What with 

 the difficulty of forcing their way through the scrub, the im- 

 possibility of seeing a foot before them in the grass, the terrific 

 noise which prevented shouts being heard, and the extraordi- 

 nary sensation of being attacked about the legs by legions of 

 invisible and unfamiliar enemies, some of the servants got nerv- 

 ous and bewildered. They lost their own masters, and were 

 glad to join and stick to any one whom they were fortunate 

 enough to find, and thus several of our explorers got separated 

 from their apparatus, and some lost their luncheons. 



Fortunately at five o'clock all our party returned in safety to 

 the ship, save one : a fine old setter answering to the name of 

 " Boss," one of a brace we had on board for sporting purposes, 

 got astray among the penguins. His voice, clamorous for a 

 time in his bewilderment and fear, and the torture he endured 

 from the beaks of the penguins, was soon lost in the infernal 



