GUNNISON'S ISLAND — BLIND PELICAN. 193 



perienced in the management of boats, although perfectly compe- 

 tent to guide one over the calm and trancfuil waters upon which we 

 had put forth in the morning. All the tent-poles and cooking 

 utensils were in the missing skiff; and as the night threatened to 

 be cold and stormy, a temporary shelter from the weather was 

 hastily erected with spare oars and some drift-wood, which, being 

 covered with a couple of tents, proved a very tolerable substitute for 

 our usually more comfortable quarters. 



In a ramble around the shores of the island, I came across a 

 venerable-looking old pelican, very large and fat, which allowed me 

 to approach him without attempting to escape. Surprised at his 

 apparent tameness, we examined him more closely, and found that 

 it was owing to his being perfectly blind ; for he proved to be very 

 pugnacious, snapping fiercely, but vaguely, on each side, in search 

 of his enemies, w^hom he could hear, but could not see. As he was 

 totally helpless, he must have subsisted on the charity of his neigh- 

 bours, and his sleek and comfortable condition showed that, like 

 beggars in more civilized eommunities, he had ''fared sumptuously 

 every day." The food of these birds consists entirely of fish, which 

 they must necessarily obtain either from Bear River, from the 

 Weber, the Jordan, or from the warm springs on the eastern side 

 of Spring Valley, at all of which places they were observed fishing 

 for food. The nearest of these points is more than thirty miles 

 distant, making necessary a flight of at least sixty miles to procure 

 and transport food for the sustenance of their young. Immense 

 numbers of the young birds are huddled together in groups about 

 the islands, under the charge of a grave-looking nurse or keeper, 

 who, all the time that we were there, was relieved from guard at 

 intervals, as regularly as a sentinel. The goslings are an awkward, 

 ungainly mass of fat, covered with a fine and exceedingly thick 

 down of a light colour. 



The island, which is an irregular ridge of rock, protruded from 

 beneath, consists of the same compact limestone as that observed 

 at Flat Rock. Between the water and storm line, on the western 

 beach, coarse and fine conglomerate or pudding-stone is found in 

 broad laminae, very hard, and generally inclined to the slope of the 

 beach. The layers, or slabs, are of various thickness, and would 

 make excellent pavements. 



Saturday^ June 1. — As the watering party was still absent, I 

 took such force as remained on the island, to the summit of the high 

 peak, to rebuild the station previously erected there, which, from 



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