STEAMER DUCK. 101 



I was oblig'ed to content m3'self with short ex- 

 cursions^ for the inclemency of the weather would 

 not permit of camping- out at night. The appear- 

 ance of the surrounding- country may briefly be 

 described : — ridg-es and pe-aks of gTey quartz rock 

 of moderate elevation form boundaries to shallow 

 valleys, or become the summits of slopes extending" 

 with g-entle declivity towards the shore. The gTound 

 almost everywhere, even on the hills, is bog-g'}", with 

 numerous swamps, rivulets, and pools. The peat in 

 some places is as much as six feet in thickness ; it 

 forms the only fuel on the island, for not a single 

 tree occurs to diversify the landscape, and few of 

 the bushes exceed a foot in heig-ht. The o-eneral 

 tint of the grass and other herbage at this season 

 is a dull brownish-green. Bays and long' winding 

 arms of the sea intersect the country in a singular 

 manner, and the shores are everywhere margined 

 by a wide belt of long* wavy sea-weed or kelp 

 [Macrocystis j^yriferci), which on the exposed coasts 

 often forms immense beds of various species, some 

 of which attain to gigantic dimensions. 



On my first walk I was surprised at the extra- 

 ordinary tameness of the smaller land birds : a thrush 

 (Tardus 3IageUanicns) almost allowed me to knock it 

 down with my cap, and some other birds were quite 

 as familiar as our robin in winter — a pair of logger- 

 head ducks {Brachypterus micropterus) were quietly 

 pluming themselves on the jetty at government- 

 house, and others were swimming along shore with- 



