40 THE SEA. 



of powder, bullets, and shot. They had also sensibly provided themselves with some 

 seeds, so that, all in all, they started life on the island under favourable circumstances. 



The west side of the island, on which they landed, consisted of a beach some three 

 miles in length, with a bank of earth, covered with the strong long tussock grass, rising 

 to the cliff, which it was just possible to scale. The walls of rock by which the island 

 is bounded afforded few opportunities for reaching the comparatively level plateau at the 

 top. Without the aid of the grass it was impossible, and in one place, which had to 

 be climbed constantly, it took them an hour and a half of hard labour, holding on with 

 hands and feet, and even teeth, to reach the summit. Meantime, they had found on the 

 north side a suitable place for building their hut, near a waterfall that fell from the side 

 of the mountain, and close to a wood, from which they could obtain all the firewood 

 they required. Their humble dwelling was partly constructed of spars from the vessel 

 that had brought them to the island, and was thatched with grass. About this time 

 (December) the seals were landing in the coast, it being the pupping season, and they 

 killed nineteen. In hunting them their whale-boat, which was too heavy for two men 

 to handle, was seriously damaged in landing through the surf; but yet, with constant 

 bailing, could be kept afloat. A little later they cut it in halves, and constructed from 

 the best parts a smaller boat, which was christened the Sea Cart. During the summer 

 rains their house became so leaky that they pulled it down, and shifted their quarters to 

 another spot. At the beginning of April the tussock grass, by which they had ascended 

 the cliff, caught fire, and their means of reaching game, in the shape of wild pigs and 

 goats, was cut off. Winter (about our summer-time, as in Australia, &c.) was approaching, 

 and it became imperative to think of laying in provisions. By means of the Sea Cart 

 they went round to the west side, and succeeded in killing two goats and a pig, the 

 latter of which furnished a bucket of fat for frying potatoes. The wild boars there were 

 found to be almost uneatable; but the sows were good eating. The goats' flesh was said 

 to be very delicate. An English ship passed them far out at sea, and they lighted a 

 fire to attract attention, but in vain; while the surf was running too high, and their 

 Cart too shaky to attempt to reach it. 



Hitherto they had experienced no greater hardships than they had expected, and were 

 prepared for. But in June [mid-winter] their boat was, during a storm, washed off the 

 beach, and broken up. This was to them a terrible disaster; their old supplies were 

 exhausted, and they were practically cut off from not merely the world in general, but 

 even the rest of the island. They got weaker and weaker, and by August were little 

 better than two skeletons. 



The sea was too tempestuous, and the distance too great for them to attempt to 

 swim round (as they afterwards did) to another part of the island. But succour was at 

 hand; they were saved by the penguins, a very clumsy form of relief. The, female 

 birds came ashore in August to lay their eggs in the nests already prepared by their 

 lords and masters, the male birds, who had landed some two or three weeks previously. 

 Our good Germans had divided their last potato, and were in a very weak and despondent 

 condition when the pleasant fact stared them in the face that they might now fatten on 

 eggs ad libitum. Their new diet soon put fresh heart and courage in them, and when, 



