82 DISCEEPANQES. 



scene as ensues when man intrudes on it has been vividly 

 depicted by Le Vaillant, " All of a sudden, there arose 

 from the whole surface of the island an impenetrable 

 cloud, which formed, at the distance of forty feet above our 

 heads, an immense canopy, or rather a sky, composed of 

 birds of every species, and of all colours : cormorants, 

 sea-gulls, sea-swallows, pelicans, and I believe, the whole 

 winged tribe of that part of Africa, were here assembled. 

 All their voices, mingled together, and modified accord- 

 ing to their different kinds, formed such a horrid music, 

 that I was every moment obliged to cover my head to 

 give a little relief to my ears. The alarm which we 

 spread was so much the more general among those in- 

 numerable legions of birds, as we principally disturbed the 

 females which were then sitting. They had nests, eggs, 

 and young to defend. They were like furious harpies let 

 loose against us, and their cries rendered us almost deaf. 

 They often flew so near us, that they flapped their wings 

 in our faces, and though we fired our pieces repeatedly, 

 we were not able to frighten them : it seemed almost im- 

 possible to disperse this cloud." 



How utterly desolate such insular rocks are is well 

 illustrated by what Mr Darwin says of St Paul's cluster, 

 situated in the midst of the Atlantic, under the equator. 

 At a distance these rocks appear of a brilliant white 

 colour, partly owing to the dung of the innumerable sea- 

 fowl, and partly to a coating of a hard, glossy substance 

 with a pearly lustre, wliich is intimately united to the 

 surface of the stone. It seems to be a sort of inflores- 



