CHAP, xii.] HOW CAUGHT. 421 



the Albutians unanimously, that in the calms, which 

 commonly succeed to a violent gale of wind, they cannot 

 fly ; if pursued by land they will run to the water, en- 

 deavouring to escape by swimming, but then it is easy 

 to follow them with the boidarkas, when they may be 

 taken with the hand, or killed by a spear or the stroke 

 of an oar."* But the modern mode of catching Alba- 

 trosses is exactly the same, except in being on a larger 

 scale, as that practised by the Yarmouth fishing boys 

 upon the unwary Gulls. 



" Another amusement was the catching of Albatross, 

 when the ship was hove to ; this was done by attaching 

 a line to a sail hook, fastening on a piece of fat, and 

 causing both to float by lashing it to a bit of wood. This 

 splendid, but fool of a bird, would pick it up ; when he 

 discovered his mistake, he would endeavour to raise 

 himself out of the water, but all his exertions to free 

 himself from the hook were unsuccessful, and he was 

 hauled on board. When on the deck, he could not get 

 up for want of wind under his wings, and with his 

 enormous web feet he could scarcely stand. The Alba- 

 tross is a magnificent bird, generally from 10 to 15 

 feet from the tip to tip of wing, a long powerful curbed 

 upper bill, and the plumage snow white ; you see them 

 several hundred miles from land, in high southern 

 latitudes, but scarcely ever find this bird within the 

 tropics."! 



A friend also writes an original account to a similar 

 effect. 



" I have succeeded in capturing the captor of the 

 Albatross, literally a wild young man. 



* Langsdorff, in Southey's Common Place Book, 2nd Series, 

 p. 577. 



f Coulter's Adventures in the Pacific, p. 26. 



