THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 399 



Operates the law primeval, " Shove the weaker to the floe." 

 Fix the tent there in the middle, Skua Black has got to go. 

 With a shriek of rage and anguish fled the parents of S. B. 

 Little cared the callous leader ; " Hurry up, and boil the tea." 



By the nest of Skuas grayish, quick was placed the Blubber Stove, 

 And the incense thence proceeding made the skuas murmur " Jove ! " 

 They had to seek another refuge. Bitter feelings filled their cup. 

 It tore their hearts to leave their offspring, so they sighed — and ate 

 them up. 



Very loudly yelled young Blackie, crawling round the tent all night, 

 So that kind and humane leader took him off to Skua White. 



"Lo ! a miracle hath happened," said returning Skua White ; 



" Here's our nest just/w// of chicken, full of howling appetite." 



Said Skua White," It would be best, for fear this should become a habit, 



To feed ourselves upon our egg. (Besides, you may be sure he'd grab it.) 



So little Blackie reigned supreme 



Until one day when he was fed 

 (By that kind and humane leader 



Foster-father, foster-feeder) 

 On rich and tasty lumps of blubber, 

 His little tummy stretched like rubber, 



Stretched too much 



and now HE y s dead ! 



The skuas are the most quarrelsome birds I know. They 

 would fight for hours over the carcase of a freshly-killed seal 

 until they realized there was enough food for ten times as 

 many skuas — and by this time the flesh would be frozen so 

 hard they could make no impression on it. The penguins 

 have their own peculiar propensities, while the seals used to 

 amaze us by their callousness. The day after we reached 

 Cape Roberts we killed a large seal and cut it up, while 

 another twenty yards away watched us quite casually, and did 

 not budge for hours. 



There was nothing much to do on the Cape. It was 

 triangular in shape, rising about fifty feet above the sea ice. 

 The broad base of the triangle was covered with snow, which 

 gradually merged into the Piedmont Glacier. There was no 

 ice-wall here, so that the glacier was presumably stagnant at 

 this corner. The great granite tors of the Cape were all 

 flattened, showing that they had been planed off by a former 



