EXPEDITION TO FUNK ISLAND. 505 



During our stay at St. Joliu's we met several flsherinen who had vis- 

 ited Fauk Island oq egging expeditions, but beyond ascertaining the 

 position of tlie best landing little knowledge was gained, nothing con- 

 cerning the character of the soil, or the chances for and against securing 

 remains of the Great Auk. 



Leaving St. John's on the morning of July 21, we sailed northward 

 toward Cape Bonavista, a headland that still bears its original appel- 

 lation, followiug almost exactly the track pursued by Cartier's vessels 

 more than three centuries ago. 



Daybreak on the morning of the 22d found us in sight of Funk Island, 

 but the wind was so light that not until noon were we near enough for 

 a boat to" be lowered and a start made for the shore. 



But two collectors had visited Funk Island before us, Peter Stuvitz 

 in 1841 and Prof. J. W. Milue in 1874, both of whom had been compelled 

 to cut short their stay and hasten back to their vessels on account of 

 threatening weather. Warned by their experience, it had been decided 

 to take ashore in the first boat a camping outfit and provisions for sev- 

 eral days, so that in the not impossible event of a fog or fresh breeze 

 springing up we could remain on the island and proceed with work while 

 the Grampus sought safer quarters. 



Accordingly the dory set out with a load large enough and varied 

 enough to have started a small country store. Besides tent and tent 

 poles, a huge flrkiu of provisions, and three breakers of water there 

 were digging utensils of various descriptions, a gun and plenty of 

 ammunition, buckets, baskets, rope, anchor, and a general wilderness 

 of rubber boots, coats, and southwesters. 



We were not, however, compelled to avail ourselves of these elabo- 

 rate preparations, for the weather continued so fair that at night we 

 returned to the Grampus, and although after sunset the wind freshened 

 and next morning the weather looked decidedly threatening, the squalls 

 passed over and gave place to light southerly breezes. 



Viewing the island from a distance it had seemed possible with the 

 faint air then stirring to beach a boat on the southerly slope; but 

 closer approach transformed the narrow line of foam and gently shelving 

 rock into the wash of a heavy swell on a steep and slippery slope of 

 granite, whereon landing was quite out of the question. 



The best landing is at a spot termed "The Bench," lying a hundred 



. yards or so to the west of the northeastern or Escape Point, and 



toward this portion of the island, where from time immemorial man 



had landed to despoil the feathered inhabitants, we directed our course. 



The Bench is a narrow path, hewn by nature in the side of a low, 

 almost vertical cliff, leading at high tide from the water's edge to per- 

 haps 20 feet above it. 



At the widest this path is 4 feet across, but from that it tapers 

 either way to nothing, terminating at the upper end in a fissure just 

 wide enough to accommodate one's foot, the rough granite furnishing a 

 very good substitute for a hand-rail. 



