THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 103 



breakfast disposed of, the two mates, with ten men, were 

 soon bending to the long, sweeping oars of the whale-boat. 

 A pulling song and chorus marked time to the stroke, and 

 awakened echoes in the lava -cliffs of the near shore, and 

 seemingly responsive cries in the sea-birds and seals. As 

 day revealed the jutting rocks, we kept nearer inshore, and 

 on the points and beaches saw numbers of seals and large 

 turtles, the former so fearless that they took no alarm at tlie 

 passing boats. Philosophic-looking pelicans, perhaps brood- 

 ing over piscatorial theories, crowned the rocks, and great 

 gatherings of gannet and boobies flew screaming over our 

 heads. A narrow beach of dark olive-colored sand marked 

 our landing-place, where we ran the boats ashore, unloaded 

 them, and drew them up out of harm's way, erecting a shel- 

 ter out of an old top-gallant sail. We left two men to pre- 

 pare camp, while the rest started for the back country to 

 hunt terrapin, the order being to prepare the first one cap- 

 tured for our dinner. We became very fastidious on terra- 

 pin-ground, and were above green turtle — considering them 

 somewhat coarse food, suitable, no doubt, for aldermen and 

 others of the shark family. So we left the flat-shelled fel- 

 lows sprawling on the beaches .behind us, with the hope that 

 at some time they might be made into soup for hunters less 

 epicurean than we. 



After getting on our stout shoes, the first worn since we 

 left the shores of America, we clambered over a rocky way 

 which skirted the beach, and struck into a pathway tramped 

 upon first, perchance, by Sir Francis Drake. A short dis- 

 tance inland we spread abroad among the scant bushes to 

 hunt our slow- going game. Every thing about was so 

 strange that each step revealed new objects of interest. The 

 purely volcanic nature of the rocks and soil; the enormous 

 spiny cactus; the broad-palmed prickly pear; the aromatic 

 foliage ; the great iguanas nodding good-morning to me, or 



