NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 355 



the flat close to the beach, was seen about a hundred yards off. It contrasted most 

 strongly in its appearance and gait with the Elephant Seal, and was soon made out to be 

 a Fur Seal (Arctocephahis gazella). It was an old male, covered with greyish-brown 

 shaggy hair, and with a short greyish mane about the neck. It moved its head up and 

 down uneasily when disturbed, just as a bear sways its head. On one of the party 

 running up too close to the beast thinking it as helpless as the Elephant Seal, he was 

 forced to retreat in a hurry, for it made a savage dash at him, open-mouthed. 



Two of the whaling schooners met with at the island killed over 70 Fur Seals on one 

 day, and upwards of twenty on another, at some small islands off Howe Island to the 

 north. It is a pity that some discretion is not exercised in killing the animals, as is done 

 in St. Paul Island in Behring Sea, in the case of the northern Fur Seal. By killing the 

 young males, and selecting certain animals only for killing, the number of seals may even 

 be increased; 1 the sealers in Kerguelen Island kill all they can find. They said that 

 the southern Fur Seals sometimes eat Penguins, and that they had found the remains of 

 them in their stomachs, and the sealers also said that sometimes, but very rarely, they 

 found another kind of Seal, somewhat like the Fur Seal, which they called the " Sea 

 Dog." A second species of Eared Seal probably thus occurs as a rarity at Kerguelen 

 Island. 



Professor Peters of Berlin identified the skull of a Fur Seal procured by the 

 Challenger at Kerguelen as belonging to his new species Arctocephahis gazella. The 

 skeleton of a specimen called by the sealers " Sea Leopard " has not yet been determined, 

 but Professor Turner states that it is not a Stenorhynchus. 



The flat stretch of land at the head of Christmas Harbour is covered with a thick 

 rank growth of grass (Poa cookii), and a Composite herb with feathery leaves and yellow 

 flower (Cotula \_Leptinellct] plumosa) , also with Azorella and Acama as at Marion Island 

 (see PI. XV. ). The soil is black and peaty and saturated with water. It is almost im- 

 possible to find fuel ; the Azorella is the only thing that will burn, and sometimes 

 pieces of this may be found that are dry enough, in places where the bunches overhang 

 small precipices, so that the water can drip away. 



The feature which distinguishes the general appearance of the vegetation of Christmas 

 Harbour from that of Marion Island is the presence of the Kerguelen Cabbage (Pringlea 

 antiscorbutica) in large quantities. The plant grows on the slopes and bases of the cliffs 

 in thick beds, and resembles a small garden cabbage, but often with a long trailing 

 stalk. It is, however, not annual but perennial, and the flowering stalks instead 

 of coming out from the centre of the head, come out laterally from the sides of the 

 stalks between the leaves. The old flower stalks die and wither, but do not drop off. 

 On one Cabbage at Betsy Cove were counted 28 flowering stalks, of different ages, three 

 of them only being of the current year's growth and fresh ; they appeared to belong to 



1 J. A. Allen, The Eared Seals. Bull. Mus. Gomp. Zool., vol. ii. pp. 1-88, 1870-71. 



