104 CATTLE ON HOG ISLAND. 



SO^OOO head) until the year 1800, he is bound to 

 reclaim annually a certain number^ and supply 

 them to purchasers at the fixed rate of thirt}^ shil- 

 ling's a head. 



We landed on Hog* Island where Capt. Sulivan's 

 herd of eleven hundred cattle (besides a number of 

 horses) had been kept during* the winter, supported 

 chiefly by the tussock gTass fringing- the shore^ 

 which they had cropped so closely that, being- a 

 perennial ])lant of slow g*rowth, two years' rest 

 would be required to enable it to regain its former 

 vigour. Larg-e patches of this mag-nificent g'rass * — 

 Dacfylls Cfcs^ntosa of botanists— along- the shores of 

 the main land have been destroyed by the cattle in 

 their fondness for the nutritious base of the stem, a 

 small portion of which, as thick as the little fing-er, 

 has a pleasant taste and may be eaten by man, to 

 whom it has occasionally furnished the principal 

 means of subsistence when wandering- in the wilds 

 of these inhospitable islands. Great numbers of up- 

 land g-eese ( CJiloephaga llagellanica), chiefly in small 

 flocks, were feeding- on various berries and the tender 

 g-rass. Althoug-h seldom molested on this island, 

 they became rather wary after a iew shots had been 

 fired — still a sufficient number to answer our pur- 

 pose were procured without much difficulty. Unlike 



* For a full account of this useful plant, the growth of which 

 in Britain in certain favourable maritime situations has been at- 

 tempted on a large scale, I would refer to Botany of the Antarctic 

 Voyage, by Dr. J. D. Hooker, p. 384, and pi. 136 and 137. 



