MULTITUJ)ES OP SEA-EOWL. 87 



to inspect the culinary resources of our insular 

 prison : the island actually swarmed with 

 birds, and there were thousands of eggs of the 

 eider-duck, the fulmar, several kinds of gulls, 

 and the little awk (Alca alle), particularly the 

 latter. Bruin's ravages were quite perceptible, 

 as freshly broken shells and spilt eggs were 

 strewed about in numbers, but unfortunately 

 every one Avhich I opened contained a well de- 

 veloped and odoriferous chick, and although 

 this may have suited the palate of U. JKari- 

 timus, we were not quite so hungry as that 

 yet. Lord David came ashore, having been 

 unsuccessful with the walruses, and we began 

 to prepare for passing some time on the island ; 

 first we dragged the two boats into a sheltered 

 little creek, and anchored them securely to the 

 rocks ; then we killed a lot of eider-ducks and 

 fulmars, by knocking them off their nests with 

 sticks and stones, which, they were actually 

 tame and foolish enough to allow. 



We next gathered a quantity of dry drift- 

 wood, which is strewn in prodigious quantities 

 on all the coasts and outlying islands of Spitz- 

 bergen. While gathering wood, I found a 

 very good walrus harpoon lying amongst the 

 sand near some old bones of sea-horses. It had 



G 4 



