10 The Penguins and the Seals 



constructed of fishbones.* There is nothing to cavil at in these 

 statements, unless It be that which asserts that the nests were 

 constructed of fishbones, for this is not in accordance with the 

 observations of contemporary naturalists, who tell us that the 

 nests of the Cape Penguin {Spheniscus demersus) are constructed 

 of stones, shells, and debris. f It is, therefore, probable that 

 the fishbones which Perestreilo saw were the remains of repasts 

 of seals. 



Seals, says the roteiro, were in great number at the Angra de 

 Sao Bras. On one occasioti the number was counted and was 

 found to be three thousand. Some were as large as bears and 

 their roaring: was as the roaring of lions. Others, which were 

 very small, bleated like kids. These difi^erences in size and in 

 voice may be explained by differences in the age and in the sex 

 of the seals, for seals of different species do not usually resort to 

 the same locality. The seal which formerly frequented the south 

 coast of Africa — for it is, I believe, no longer a denizen of that 

 region — was that which is known to naturalists as Arctocefhalus 

 delalandii^ and, as adult males sometimes attain eight and a hair 

 feet in length, it may well be described as of the size of a bear. 

 Cubs from six to eight months of age measure about two feet 

 and a half in length.| The Portuguese caught anchovies in the 

 bay, which they salted to serve as provisions on the voyage. 

 They anchored a second time in the Angra de Sao Eras in 

 March, 1499, on their homeward voyage. 



Yet one more allusion to the penguins and seals of the Angra 



* Roteiro da Viagf.m de Vasco da (^ama. 2^^ edi^ao. Lisboa, 1861. Pp. 14 

 and 105. 



t Moseley, Notes by a Naturalist on the ' ChalUnger^ p. 155. 



\ Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the 'British Museum, by J. E. Gray. 

 2nd cd., p. 53. 



>^^ 



