244 Cruise of the "Alert" 



accompanied by a rather heavy sea, so that our progress for the 

 time was far from satisfactory. On reaching the latitude of Algoa 

 Bay, on the east coast of Africa, it was decided on running in 

 there for coal, which we accordingly did, anchoring off the town 

 of Port Elizabeth on the 9th of June, and remaining there until 

 the morning of the 1 ith, when we resumed our voyage to the 

 Cape. 



We arrived at Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 14th 

 of June, and made a stay of fourteen days, which was necessary 

 in order to enable us to refit and revictual the ship, and otherwise 

 prepare for the homeward voyage through the Atlantic. 



On one of the few days which I here spent on shore, I made 

 the acquaintance of a Mr. Black, a fine hale old man, a shipwright 

 by trade, who supplemented his regular work by collecting and 

 preparing for sale various curiosities of natural history, especially 

 the skins and horns of many South African animals of the antelope 

 family. His latest trophy was a very large specimen of the egg 

 of the Epiornis of Madagascar, a gigantic bird which would seem 

 to have become extinct almost within the historic period. He had 

 purchased this egg, as a commercial speculation, from the super- 

 cargo of a trading schooner, and hoped to realize a considerable 

 profit by disposing of it to one of the European museums. It was 

 indeed of enormous proportions — although not actually the largest 

 on record — for it measured eleven and three-quarter inches in length 

 and eight and a half inches in breadth, while it had a capacity of 

 about eight quarts. The shell was one-eighth of an inch in thick- 

 ness, as I ascertained by measuring it at the smaller end, where 

 there was an aperture large enough to admit the thumb. He 

 could not give me any information as to the conditions under 

 which it was found, and although he had paid a large sum for it 

 seemed to be unaware of the fact that somewhat similar specimens 

 existed. It appeared to be in a sub-fossil condition, and was 

 dotted over externally with fine pits, so that its surface somewhat 

 resembled that of an old half-decayed human skull. About one- 



