264 THE MUTTON BIRD. 



ligent. In another part of my work I shall touch 

 more fully on the history of these sealers, who style 

 themselves Residents of the islands. They further dis- 

 tinguish their classes by the names of Eastern and 

 Western vStraits-men, according to the position of 

 the islands they inhabit. 



The sealers on New Year Island had a large 

 whale boat, which I was somewhat puzzled to know 

 how they managed, there being but one man among 

 them. He informed me, however, that his wives, the 

 two native women, assisted him to work the boat, 

 which had been well prepared for the rough 

 weather they have to encounter in Bass Strait 

 by a canvass half-deck, which, lacing in the centre, 

 could be rolled up on the gun-wale in fine weather. 

 The principal occupation of these people during 

 this month of the year is taking the Sooty Petrel, 

 called by the colonists the Mutton Bird, from 

 a fancied resemblance to the taste of that meat. 

 It is at the present month that they resort to 

 the island for the purpose of incubation. They con- 

 stitute the chief sustenance of the sealers, who cure 

 them for use and sale : their feathers also form a 

 considerable article of trade. Many parts of the 

 island were perfectly honeycombed with their 

 burrows, which greatly impede the progress of the 

 pedestrian, and are in some cases dangerous from 

 snakes lying in them. The sealers told me that they 

 had lost a cat which died within an hour after the 

 bite of one of these reptiles. We here found cab- 

 bages and water, and the people informed us that 



