Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlviii. (1904), No. 33- 19 



collected in some of the rocks, we retraced our steps to the 

 cliff above, passing on our way numbers of Mollymauks. 



One recess, which seems to have been formed by 

 human hands, had been taken possession of by about a 

 dozen couples of these beautiful birds, and no ' Rock- 

 hoppers ' were with them. Elsewhere, both species seemed 

 to live in perfect harmony. 



At the eastern corner of this rookery a dim outline of 

 a circular bank, about twenty paces across, could be 

 traced, an opening about three feet in diameter being left 

 nearest the rookery. This, Mr. Felton informed me, was 

 the remains of a corral built by the sealers years before 

 the island was inhabited. The method employed by 

 those men for collecting the birds was most cruel. 

 About 200,000 ' Rockhoppers ' were driven into this en- 

 closure, and the entrance closed. Most of the birds soon 

 died for want of air, and the few survivors were knocked 

 on the head by the sealers. The bodies were later boiled 

 down for the oil they contained, and as each bird was calcu- 

 lated to yield about a pint of oil, the amount collected must 

 have been very considerable. This fluid was poured into 

 casks, rolled to the nearest beach, and rafted off later to 

 the schooner and stored in the vessel's hold. After fruit- 

 less enquiry from many people in the Falklands for what 

 purpose this oil was used, I at last found an old sealer in 

 Stanley, who had spent many years cruising round the 

 Falklands and Cape Horn, who told me that this oil was 

 sent exclusively to France and used there in the soap 

 manufactories. The market value of it was about ;^20 a 

 ton. Fortunately substitutes have now been found, and 

 so these interesting birds are not molested in any way. 



During our passage from this island to the main- 

 land our course lay through an extensive tidal stream. 

 When we had gained about the centre of this 1 



