THE ALBATROSS. 95 



stillness prevailed in these high regions, and to 

 my ear our voices had a strange unnatural echo, 

 and I fancied our forms appeared gigantic, whilst 

 the air was piercing cold. The prospect was alto- 

 gether sublime, and filled the mind with awe. 

 The huge albatross here appeared to dread no 

 interloper or enemy, for their young were on the 

 ground completely uncovered, and the old ones 

 were stalking around them. They lay but one 

 egg on the ground, where they make a kind of 

 nest by scraping the earth around it. The young 

 is entirely white, and covered with a woolly down, 

 which is very beautiful. As we approached, they 

 snapped their beaks with a very quick motion, 

 making a great noise. I again visited the moun- 

 tain about five months afterwards, when I found 

 the young albatrosses still sitting in their nests, 

 and they had never moved away from them." 



This nest consists of a mound of earth, inter- 

 mingled with withered grass and leaves matted 

 together, eighteen inches in height, six feet in 

 circumference at the base, and upwards of two 

 feet in diameter at the top. 



The Arabian Tales repeatedly mention a huge 

 bird which has hitherto been considered as fabu- 



