272 MANGROVE-TREE AND RABBITS ON LONG ISLAND, 



cooked one. It being a young seal, the dish proved 

 very palatable, in taste much resembling hog's liver. 

 All now became alert to procure a fresh suppl}- of 

 them ; but, as it happened, the next seal pitched upon 

 was a patriarch of the gang, whose destroyers were 

 overjoyed indeed at tlie quantity yielded by their 

 prize, and brought it aboard the ship with the air of 

 conquerors. The cook dressed it; but, lo, and be- 

 hold ! the following day, most of those who had par- 

 taken of it were affected by nausea at the stomach 

 and distressino; headache — half of tlie number be- 

 ing unable to leave their bertlis : consequences, I 

 opine, arising from the indigestibility of the liver, 

 rendered tough by the animal's great age. Since 

 then I have been assured that this is by no means 

 an isolated case of indisposition from the same cause. 

 In rambling, we found Long Island the most in- 

 viting of the group. It was scantily furnished with 

 several varieties of low shrubs ; amongst which were 

 the native Australian gooseberry and a species of wild 

 oats. There are also on the island several thickets of 

 the mangrove, which, from the peculiar growth of the 

 trees, though of only a moderate height, are almost 

 impenetrable. This tree affords excellent fuel, and 

 we took advantage of this by cutting and carrying 

 away some eight or ten cords of it for firewood. Its 

 fracture is of a light yellowish color, and the heart 

 of it is decayed, but I cannot say whether this is 

 owing to the bad qualit}^ of the soil, or is a natural 

 characteristic of the wood. It is very heavy. The 

 leaf is small, and eagerly sought for by the rabbits, 

 which abound on the island. Several pairs of these 

 little creatures were placed here years ago, and they 



