MULTITUDES OF SEA-FOWL. 87 



to inspect the culinary resources of our insular 

 prison : the island actually swarmed with 

 birds, and there were thousands of eggs of the 

 eider-duck, the fulmar, several kinds of gulls, 

 and the little awk (Alca alle), particularly the 

 latter. Bruin s ravages were quite perceptible, 

 as freshly broken shells and spilt eggs were 

 strewed about in numbers, but unfortunately 

 every one which I opened contained a well de 

 veloped and odoriferous chick, and although 

 this may have suited the palate of U. Mari- 

 timus, we were not quite so hungry as that 

 yet. Lord David came ashore, having been 

 unsuccessful with the walruses, and we began 

 to prepare for passing some time on the island ; 

 first we dragged the two boats into a sheltered 

 little creek, and anchored them securely to the 

 rocks ; then we killed a lot of eider-ducks and 

 fulmars, by knocking them off their nests with 

 sticks and stones, which, they were actually 

 tame and foolish enough to allow. 



We next gathered a quantity of dry drift 

 wood, which is strewn in prodigious quantities 

 on all the coasts and outlying islands of Spits 

 bergen. While gathering wood, I found a 

 very good walrus harpoon lying amongst the 

 sand near some old bones of sea-horses. It had 



