fcfiW SOUTH WALES. 28<) 



whitened over with birds- With difficulty a 

 landing was effected, and, after an encounter 

 with some seals that stood above, they reached 

 the top. The birds \found were albatrosses. 

 The spread of their wings was from seven to nine 

 feet; and the appearance of their visitors did 

 not occasion much disturbance among them, 

 even when they approached close to them. The 

 females sat upon their nests, this being the season 

 of their breeding, the nests were not more than a 

 foot and a half apart, built of muddy earth, bound 

 with grass, raised about four inches from the 

 ground. One young bird was in each nest : of 

 the size of a small pullet, covered with a beau- 

 tifully white down ; at some distance resemb* 

 lkig a ball of cotton. Some nests held an addled 

 egg of a dirty white colour, and equal in size 

 to that of a goose. The nests were so near each 

 other, and the birds so conscious of the strength 

 of their sharp bills, that in going through them 

 they were obliged to make use of seal clubs, to 

 procure a passage. Even the young ones spout- 

 ed plentiful mouthfuls of a kind of oil on them 

 not altogether unpleasant. 



This island, which obtained the name of Al- 

 batross Island, was a mass of stone, without any 

 other vegetation than a few tufts of coarse grass. 

 Besides albatrosses, it afforded shelter to a few 

 hair seals, and the large gull. The latitude was 

 40° 24', the longitude 145° 02'. 



Several other islands weffi seen to the South- 

 Ward, ahxi the coast of the niam seemed trended 



