THE SEA ELEPHANT. 123 



the temporary habitation. Here the banished hunter or hunters rest at night, 

 after the fatigues of ranging along the shores, killing and flaying the animals met 

 with, and transporting the blubber to a place of deposit, where it is buried, to pre- 

 vent the gulls from devouring it, until taken aboard. As the season returns at 

 Herd's Island, the vessels are usually "on the ground;" the treacherous surf is again 

 passed and repassed in the light, frail whale-boats, landing the fresh crew from 

 home, who relieve those who have thus literally "seen the elephant." The time 

 passes quickly away, in the toil and excitement of killing and flensing ; and again 

 the floating fragment of the woi'ld departs for the land of civilization, leaving her 

 last crew from home to pass an Antarctic winter, amid the solitudes of icebergs 

 and the snow-covered peaks of the mountain land. No passing sail is seen to 

 break the monotony of their voluntary exile; even many varieties of sea-birds 

 found at Desolation Island do not deign to visit them. Multitudes of penguins, 

 however, periodically resort to the island, and their eggs, together with the tongues 

 of the Sea Elephants, and one or two kinds of fish, furnish a welcome repast for all 

 hands, by way of change from that substantial fare called "salt-horse" and "hard- 

 tack." Beside the close stoves in their apartments, which are heated mth coal from 

 the ship, or the fat of the Elephant pups, and the flickerings of a murky oil -lamp, 

 the long winter evenings are passed in smoking and playing amusing games — "old 

 sledge" and "seven-up" being favorites — and the reckless joking that circulates 

 among adventurers who make light of ill-luck, and turn reverses into ridicule. 



The extent and value of the Sea Elephant fishery, from its commencement up 

 to the present date, is not definitely known, as the ships engaged in the enterprise, 

 when whaling and sealing was at its height in the southern ocean, were also in 

 pursuit of the valuable fur -bearing animals, as well as the Cachalot and the ba- 

 laena ; hence their cargoes were often made up of a variety of the oils of com- 

 merce. We have reliable accounts, however, of the Sea Elephant being taken for 

 its oil as early as the beginning of the present century. At those islands, or upon 

 the coasts on the main, where vessels could find secure shelter from all winds, the 

 animals have long since been virtually annihilated ; and now they are only sought 

 after in the remote places we have mentioned, and these points are only accessible 

 under the great difficulties that beset the mariner when sailing near the polar re- 

 gions of the globe. Enough data are at hand, nevertheless, to show that hundreds 

 of thousands of the animals, yielding as many barrels of oil, have been taken from 

 Desolation and Herd's Islands, by American ships, which for many years have main- 

 tained a monopoly of the business. 



