184 SPORTING ADVENTUEES 



teal were excellent, and the flamingo are said 

 to be also very good eating ; but of this we 

 were not aware until too late, when their bodies 

 had been thrown away, only their beautiful 

 skins being preserved. The tongue of the 

 flamingo was esteemed as a great delicacy by 

 the Roman emperors, and we had the five 

 tongues cooked, but we failed to discover any- 

 thing particularly recherche about them. The 

 next day a party of sportsmen landed and 

 disposed of eight or ten brace more teal, whilst 

 I, with the same companions, ran down the 

 coast, to see if we could find fresh water where 

 it was so marked on the chart. We found the 

 place, but no water, although in the rainy season 

 there must be plenty, as the rocks bore unmis- 

 takeable traces of having been swept by a 

 mountain torrent. Pursuing our course in the 

 boat, we came across what is called a seal 

 rookery, where several of these animals were 

 basking; with our rifles we killed seven or 

 eight of them before they reached the water, 

 but we had some difficulty in getting them into 



