NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 321 



name. Penguin Island (sometimes called Inaccessible) is a solitary basaltic islet, which 

 rises in castellated pinnacles 900 or 1000 feet above the level of the sea. On it may 

 usually be seen numerous Penguins and other birds. Owing to its small extent and 

 the constant swell, landing is almost impossible ; off its southern end is a rock under 

 water, over which the sea was seen to break by the officers of the " Wolverene." Be- 

 tween Hog and Penguin Islands are the Heroine Breakers, first seen by Captain Cecille, 

 a dangerous group of rocks, the precise position of which has not yet been ascertained. 



The two eastern islands are high and rugged, their sharp, well-defined peaks rising to 

 heights of 4000 and 5000 feet above the sea level. Their coasts are in most cases rocky 

 and precipitous, especially that of East Island, and off the north end of Possession Island 

 is a remarkable perforated rock, through which it is said a vessel might sail. Landing 

 may generally be effected on Possession Island either in the cove on its southeast 

 end or in some of the bays on its northeast side, but sometimes days have passed with- 

 out the sealers being able to launch a boat. It is usually difficult to land on East Island. 

 In the passage between Possession and East Islands a depth of 8 5 fathoms was found by 

 Sir James Ross. Navire Cove has sufficient depth of water for a vessel to anchor, but it is 

 so small and exposed that even schooners should be cautious in running the risk of entering 

 it ; in fact, some vessels have been wrecked there when trying to ride out an easterly 

 wind. The "Heroine" in 1838 and recently the "Wolverene" anchored just outside 

 the cove for a short time. The eastern, like the western, group is of igneous origin, 

 and columns of basalt are common to all the islands. Their upper portions are barren, 

 but their lower parts are covered with a thick herbaceous vegetation resembling in 

 appearance that of Marion Island, with here and there Tussock Grass and the Kerguelen 

 Cabbage ; Penguin Island, however, appeared very bare. 



From all sides of the precipitous black cliffs, cataracts fall over into the sea, and 

 water is found in numerous ponds all over the group. The islands are frequented 

 by Elephant and Fur Seals, although these are not so plentiful as formerly, and as 

 there is no lack of water there is no danger of shipwrecked mariners dying of starvation. 

 The blubber of the Elephant Seal and the skins of Penguins with the adherent fat 

 furnish the material for fire, and the flesh of the Seals and birds, the eggs of the latter, 

 together with the Kerguelen Cabbage, form a nourishing diet on which the sealers 

 residing at times on one or other of the islands have usually lived, and with which 

 they appear to have been contented. 



As before mentioned, pigs have been landed on Hog Island, but they are now 

 exterminated, for the sealers found them unpalatable in consequence of their habit of 

 eating Penguins. In Goodridge's time the wild hogs were very fierce and dangerous to 

 approach single-handed, having very large tusks. The sealers are against the intror 

 duction of pigs into the Southern Islands, as they destroy the birds, which are the main 

 chance of support of castaway mariners. Rabbits, however, flourish, though they are said 



(narr. chall. exp. — vol. i. — 1884.) 41 



