Extracts from Diary of Nicolai Hanson. 85 



she had never before met her master, for when I landed on the floe, she 

 merely lifted her head and stared at me. Evidently she took me for a 

 Penguin or some other inferior being, for she soon settled down to rest 

 again. A ball from my gun finished her. We pulled the whole carcase 

 into the boat, which was quite loaded up with such a big Seal. Later 

 in the day Borchgrevink shot from the ship a White Seal which was lying 

 on a floe we passed. This last one was much smaller than the two I had 

 killed. In the evening the ship was stopped by the closure of the ice. I 

 therefore took one of the small canvas boats and pulled about in the lanes 

 to shoot birds. I bagged twenty-eight birds in thirty-three shots. They 

 were mostly Cape Pigeons and Ice Petrels, and two species I have not 

 seen before, one like the Fulmar {Fulmarus glacialis) we have at home,^ 

 and a new one, with brown back and head and a brown band over the 

 neck, and a white band length- ways over the wings, as well as a white 

 belly. ^ Besides these birds I also saw to-day Oceanites oceanicus. 



Neio Yearns Day, 1899. — This afternoon I was out on the ice and shot 

 seventeen birds : fifteen Ice Petrels, one Cape Pigeon and one 0. oceanicus. 

 I saw two Whales. One of the firemen who was with me found a small 

 herring-like fish on an ice-floe. Some of the crew took a long trip on " Shi " 

 over the ice, and brought back to me a number of shrimps, one inch and 

 a half long, which they had found on the ice. I noticed some Medusse ; 

 some were oblong, but one was round, of a blue colour, with four round 

 brown eyes, like the stinging Medusa, and with long brown tendrils. 



January 2nd. — At 5 a.m. to-day I was called by the second mate to 

 come and shoot a Penguin. When I came on deck the bird stood on a 

 floe about 100 yards from the ship, but when I stepped down on the ice 

 he jumped into the water and dived. I thought that he was frightened, 

 and T should see him no more, but a few moments after he came up on a 

 floe about 100 feet away from the ship. It was a funny sight to see him 

 sitting there fanning himself with his flippers while he regarded the ship 

 and its inhabitants. The noise made by the dogs appeared to interest 

 him most, for now and again he uttered a grunting sound, as if in response 

 to their barking. His confidence cost him his life, for I killed him with 

 a shot from the ship. Later in the day I went up on the bridge to look 

 for Seal on the ice, as we now were lying fast in the pack. I soon espied 

 a large White Seal lying asleep on a floe about 500 yards distant. With 

 my double-barrelled gun, and two men to assist me, I set out for this 

 Seal. When I came within easy range I shouted out to him to " wake up," 

 as I did not like to kill him asleep. An hour later Borchgrevink shot a 

 young Leopard-Seal on a floe upon which it had crawled to look at the 

 dogs. Of birds I shot only an Ice Petrel and an 0. oceanicus. 



January 3rd. — My bag to-day was one White Seal, two Cape Pigeons 

 and five Ice Petrels. 



January ith. — I was called up before breakfast, as the Captain 

 reported, from the mast-head, a Seal on a floe ahead of the ship. I took 

 one of the old needle-rifles and stood waiting on the forecastle-head till 

 the ship had come within range. When we were still about 200 yards 

 distant from him, he began to show signs of uneasiness and wanted to get 

 to the water. I therefore dared not wait any longer, but sent a ball 



' Priocella glacialoides. — R. B. S. 

 * Thalassceca antarctica. — R. B. S. 



