TUSSOCK GRASS ON PEAT ISLAND. 109 



place, it was discovered that the beast had very 

 prudently g'ot out of the way, nor this morning- 

 could he be found by a person who went to make a 

 second search. 



On this — Peat Islet of the chart — the tussock 

 grass g'rows in g"reat luxuriance, and to a strang-er 

 presents a most sing-ular appearance. Its clusters of 

 stems — frequently upwards of a hundred or more 

 in a bunch — are raised from the gTound upon a 

 densely matted mass of old and decayed roots, two 

 or three feet hig'li, from the summit of which the 

 leaves, frequently six feet in leng'th, arch g-racefully 

 outwards. The tussock gi'ass has been likened to a 

 palm on a small scale, but altog"ether it reminded 

 me more of the Xanthorhoea, or g-rass-tree of Aus- 

 tralia. We saw many seals swimming' about among- 

 the kelp, and on the shore found the carcases of 

 several which had lately been killed Avith clubs, each 

 of the skulls having- been fractured by a blow at the 

 root of the nose. They were of the kind known 

 here as the hair-seal, the skin of which is of little 

 value. It is still very abundant ; but the fur-seal, 

 from the indiscriminate slaug-hter of old and young* 

 for many years back has become scarce, and is now 

 confined to a few favourite localities — rookeries as 

 they are called, a name also applied at the Falk- 

 lands to any g-reat breeding- place of peng-uins or 

 other sea fowl. A few days ag-o a party of five 

 sealers returned to the settlement after a short 



