OUTWARD BOUND. 17 



are hunted on horseback whenever they are found. There 

 is, however, some good bird-shooting. 



June 21. Passed St. Paul's Rocks about 3.15 p.m., 

 but we failed to discover them, though the captain hunted 

 for them. As they are only about sixty feet high, they 

 are always difficult to find.* This evening the sun set at 

 6.5 ; it was quite dark by 6.20, and at 7.30 we crossed the 

 equator. It is very cool. This is the thirty-seventh time 

 that the French captain has crossed the line, and he will 

 have to recross it thrice before he can again return to his 

 wife at Bordeaux, having, when he leaves Rio, to double 

 Cape Horn and run up the West Coast to some place near 

 Panama. 



I think the practice which obtains of killing the oxen 

 forwards on the spar deck, in the midst of the emigrants, is 

 disgraceful, though I must admit that most of the pretty 

 young girls and the children look on unconcernedly ; but 

 at least a sail might be hung, so as to prevent the other 

 oxen witnessing their comrade's death, for I have seen 

 them turn their heads to their expiring brother and tremble 

 all over with terror. The sheep and pigs are slain in the 

 butcher's shop just over my cabin. The other day I was 

 awakened by the dying shrieks of a pig, and immediately 

 afterwards some of his vital fluid trickled through a loose 

 bolt-hole on to my ceiling ! 



* In the official report of the Challenger Expedition, there are three 

 splendid photographs of St. Paul's Rocks, with an exhaustive description of 

 the rocks, their composition, characteristics, inhabitants, etc. It is stated, 

 " During the time the ship remained at these islets, their dangerous character 

 was more than ever apparent ; for although their white guano-covered peaks, 

 when lit up by the moon, were plainly visible from the ship a hundred yards 

 distant, they were not sufficiently distinct to be recognized as land at a distance 

 of over a mile, and without the moon would probably not be seen more than a 

 quarter of a mile ; in short, the sound of the breakers might be the first notice 

 given to a passing ship of their proximity." Narrative, vol. i. pt. i. p. 202. 



C 



