NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1879. 



NEW YEAR'S CALLS. 



I.— 12 M. 



So It's you ! I began to be anxious ; 

 You fluid you'd come early, you kuow ; 

 Besides, I had counted upon you, 

 And it Isn't like you to be slow. 

 Is that your new dress 1 Honr becoming ! 



Pray how do yon like mine, my dear ? 

 Ma's grand in black velvet and diamonds. 

 Are yon ready ? Then walk right in here. 



There's the table. Delmonlco spread it. 



Pa said it wasn't worth while ; 

 But what la the goad of his money 



It we don't have things done up iu style ! 



I wish Fanny Harris conld see it ; 



She'd be awfully jealous. But then 

 That's the worst of these New Tear's receptions 



Nobody sees things but the men. 



They won't care for the fruit and the dowers, 



Well, there's plenty of wine, I am sure. 

 Come, Nell, get yourself in position. 



Be quick ! There's a ring at the door. 

 II.— 12 r. m. 

 Bring tho card baskets in from the hall, John, 



And put the dead-latoh on the door. 

 Let Ned in ; if any one else comes, 



Jnst Bay the reception is o'er. 

 Come, Nell, have some turkey and salad. 



I'm starved, and I hope you are, too. 

 I really believe everybody 



Has been here that we knew. 



Please count the cards, ma. The reception 



Has been, 1 T.liint;, a success. 

 What a shame in I hat tipsy Fiteuoodle 



To spill claret punch on my dress ! 



Then thero was yonng Schumaker Fyndlngs 

 Could scarcely tell his heels from his head, 



MaKing love tome; it was disgusting, 

 He should have been home and in bed. 



What was it you said, ma?— three hundred I 



Indeed, that will do pretty well; 

 Hake pa see that it gets in the papers, 



And be sure that he don't forget Neil. 



For Forest and Stream and Hod and Gun. 



gtmting t\\t $m-$U$hmt. 



(From a forthcoming volume by Charles Lanman.) 

 *' rpHA-T'S a ship from Desolation and she's full of ele- 

 .L phant oil 1" The words were spoken by an old skip- 

 per, -with whom the writer had been upon a fishing cruise in 

 Long Island Sound, and it was prompted by the sight of a 

 storm-beaten vessel while passing into the beautiful harbor of 

 New London. The return of the ship after a long voyage I 

 could readily understand, but the place and the commodity al- 

 luded to were to me involved in mystery. The brief explana- 

 tion which followed from the skipper only tended to increase 

 my interest in his casual remark ; nor was it lessened when he 

 told me that the Desolation Islands were more nearly identi- 

 fied with New London than with any other seaport in the 

 country. In a short time, therefore, after my return from 

 fishing I was busy among the ancient mariners of the town, 

 asking them questions and recording their replies. 



In the South Atlantic or Indian Ocean, about midway be- 

 tween the Cape of Good Hope and the western coast of Aus- 

 tralia, are located two islands, lonely and inhospitable, and 

 nearly three thousand miles from the nearest continent. One 

 of them bears the name of Kerguelen's Land and the other 

 that of Heard's Island ; and although not very near neighbors 

 they are know n to the mc n " who go down to the sea in ships' 

 as the Desolation Islands. The first mentioned of these was 

 discovered by a lieutenant in the French navy, named Ker- 

 guelen, in 1773, and for bis service he was promoted to the 

 command of a frigate. He revisited the new land in 1773, 

 gave it the name of La Fortune and reported to his govern- 

 ment that he had discovered a new continent, in which opin- 

 ion he was of course mistaken. Its exact location is lat. 40 S. 

 long 70 E. In 1776 the famous navigator Cook, by direction 

 of the English government, also visited this island ; he gave its 

 principal bays and headlands the names which they have since 

 borne ; and he made the assertion that, if it had not already 

 received the name of its discoverer, he would be inclined to 



to call it the Land of Desolation. The other island to which 

 we have alluded lies about 180 miles southeast of Kerguelen's 

 Land, and although actually discovered by a Boston naviga- 

 tor named Heard in 1853, while on his way to Australia, the 

 first man who set foot upon it was Captain E. Darwin Rogers, 

 of New London ; and the man who brought away from each 

 of the two islands in question the first cargoes of oil was Cap- 

 tain Franklin F. Smith, also of New London. The Log 

 Books and private journals of these men have been placed in 

 sion, as well as the Journal of Captain Henry ling- 

 ers, who was one of a small party that first spent a winter up- 

 on 'Heard's Island,- and it is from these original records that 

 the following facts have been chiefly compiled. 



The most complete account of Kerguelen's Land comes to 

 me from Captain Smith, and a word or two about the man 

 himself should not be omitted in this place. He was born in 

 New London in 1801, and before completing his thirteenth 

 year became a sailor in a coasting vessel. In 1822 he went 

 upon a whaling voyage to Patagonia -. and on being promoted 

 to the C'linmand of a ship in 1831, he entered upon a series of 

 voyages which have been pronounced the most successful in 

 the annals of whaling. The names of his vessels were the 

 Florio, Julius Csesar, Tuscarora and the Chelsea j and in the 

 course of ten years he made nine voyages, the first seven of 

 them yielding 10,154 barrels of whale oil, and 1,147 barrels of 

 sperm, the total value of which, according to present prices 

 and without counting extras, would amount to about six hun- 

 dred and fifty thousand dollars. These voyages were made in 

 behalf of N. & W. W Billings and of Williams & Haven. 

 During four of them his wife accompanied him iu his explora- 

 tions around the globe ; and his only daughter was born at sea, 

 receiving the name of the ship in which the event occurred. 

 He also had a number of sons, one of whom acquired distinc- 

 tion as a whaleman ; and four brothers, who were all whale 

 hunters. One of them was killed while fighting one of the 

 ocean monsters in the Pacific ocean ; and another was nearly 

 as successful in the same sphere of enterprise. He made a 

 number of voyages to Kerguelen's Land, and, as already 

 stated, he was tho first American who brought any oil from 

 that remote region in 1837 ; and now, reserving some other 

 particulars about him for another place, I come to his de- 

 scription of the island. 



It is about one hundred miles long and perhaps sixty wide, 

 and reputed to be the most barren spot in either hemisphere. 

 It is of volcanic origin, rises in some places in terraces to the 

 height of three thousand feet above the sea, with one pointed 

 peak said to be nearly six thousand feet high, contains a 

 number of lofty and picturesque headlands ; is indented with 

 bays or fiords, some of which nearly cross the island, and to 

 the geologist it is especially interesting, as containing in its 

 igneous formations a large amount of fossil wood and coal. 

 Small rocky islands, to the number of three hundred, sur- 

 round it on all sides ; and yet it has several first rate harbors. 

 During the entire year, the higher lands are covered with ice 

 and snow, which, with the fogs and winds, dispute the honor 

 of making the place desolate in the extreme. The vegetation, 

 which is very limited, is antarctic; and although scientific 

 men have described one hundred and fifty species of plants, 

 the ordinary observer -would only be attracted by four — a kind 

 of saxafrage, a plant resembling the cabbage, a variety of 

 coarse grass, and a plant belonging to the cress family. As to 

 trees, there is not one to be found, and it is not probable that 

 any ever grew on the island. But the sea-weeds which fringe 

 the shores of the entire island, are particularly rich and rare, 

 some of them growing to the enormous length of sixty feet. 

 Of quadrupeds it is entirely destitute. In the way of birds, it 

 is frequented by a few gulls, now and then by an albatross, 

 and by penguins in the greatest abundance. In olden times, 

 such portions of the coast as were accessible were frequented 

 by several kinds of seal, and also by the sea-elephant ; but 

 they are now becoming scarce. There are no permanent in- 

 habitants on tho island ; and since it has ceased, for the most 

 part, to afford a profitable supply of oil, it is chiefly interest- 

 ing to seafaring men in these latter day's as a secure rendez- 

 vous when overtaken by foul weather in their lone wander- 

 ings around the globe. During the period when England en- 

 enjoyed the monopoly of killing seals on this island for their 

 furs alone, it was estimated that the yield was about one mil- 

 lion skins per annum. 



But it is of Heard's Island that we desire especially to 

 speak in this paper. It is about eighteen miles long and per- 

 haps six or seven wide; and by right of discovery is an 

 American possession. For many years the merchants of New 

 London cherished the belief that there was land somewhere 

 south of Kerguelen's Island, for in no other way could their 

 captains account for the continuous supply of tho sea-ele- 

 phant on its shores. As long ago as 1849 Captain Thomas 

 Long, then of the Charles Carroll, reported to tho owners of 

 his ship that he had seen land from the mast-head, while sail- 

 ing south of Kerguelen's Land ; but Captain Heard has re- 

 ceived the credit of the discovery, although he did not land 

 upon the island. The man who first did this was Captain E. 

 Darwin Rogers. He was on a cruise after sperm whale ; hia 

 Bhip was the Corinthian, and ho had three tenders ; and his 

 employers were Perkins <fc Smith— the same Smith heretofore 

 mentioned. Captain Rogers commemorated his success by 

 an onslaught upon the sea-elephauts, which he found very 

 numerous on the shore ; and after securing four hundred bar- | 



rels of oil, improved the first opportunity to inform his em- 

 ployers of what he had done, urging them not only to keed 

 the information secret, but to dispatch another vessel to the 

 newly discovered island. When the news reached New Lon- 

 don, Perkins & Smith were without a ship or a suitable Cap- 

 tain for the enterprise. The second member of the firm had 

 long before given up the sea and was hoping to spend the re- 

 mainder of his days at home in the quiet enjoyment of an 

 ample fortune. But the t?mptation was strong and he yielded. 

 The firm purchased a ship at once, and the moment she was 

 equipped, Captain Smith look command, and sailed for 

 Heard's Island. With Captain Darwin Rogers as his right 

 hand man he fully explored the island, named all its head- 

 lands and bays and other prominent features, made a map of 

 it, and succeeded in filling all his vessels with oil. Two ex- 

 ploits which he performed with the assistance of his several 

 crews, are worth mentioning : At one point, which he called 

 the Seal Rookerv, they slaughtered five hundred of these ani- 

 mals, and as was afterward found, thereby exterminated the 

 race in that locality ; and they performed the marvelous labor 

 of rolling three thousand barrels of elephant oil a distance of 

 three miles, across a neck of the island, from one shore to an- 

 other where their vessels were anchored. The ship which he 

 himself commanded returned in safety to New London with a 

 caTgo of oil valued at §130,000, one-half of which was his 

 property. On reaching the dock he was warmly congratu- 

 lated by his numerous friends ; was informed that the books 

 of his firm never told a better story than they did then, and 

 that good news had been received from all their thirteen whale 

 ships, which were homeward bound from the Pacific and Arc- 

 tic seas. In addition to all this, he found that two farms 

 which he owned had increased in value, and that the ten or 

 twelve thousand dollars he had invested in erecting the Pe- 

 quot House, since become famous as a summer resort, would 

 probable pay him a handsome interest ;— but as the wheel of 

 fortune would have it, in six months from the date of his ar- 

 rival home from Heard's Island, he had lost all his entire 

 property. The blow was terrible, and a desolation of heart 

 fell upon him, which could not but remind him of the Deso- 

 lation Islands in the Indian sea. After resting upon his oars 

 for a few years, he made one desperate effort in 18G2 to re- 

 trive his fortunes, but the tide had turned against him, and 

 he was unsuccessful. His friends furnished him with a new 

 ship and he went upon another voyage to the Desolation Is- 

 lands. Having secured a good cargo of whale and elephant 

 oil, the ship was wrecked on a reef off the Sea Shell Islands, 

 after which he obtained a passage to the Isle of France and by 

 way of London, Liverpool and New York, returned to New 

 London, where he subsequently resided a worthy and much re- 

 spected, but disappointed man. 



But it is time that we should be giving our readers an idea 

 of the physical characteristics of Heard's Island. It is in 

 reality an ice island, with only enough of solid laud visible at 

 different points to prove that it is not an ice-berg. From the 

 centre of it there rises to the height of at least five thousand 

 feet a broad breasted mountain, which is known to be perpet- 

 ually covered with ice and snow, and its sides and summits 

 are so cold and desolate that no living creature has ever been 

 seen to harbor there excepting the albatross. Some of the 

 points or head lands which are found along its eastern shore 

 rise out of the sea in the form of perpendicular cliffs, and 

 Captain Darwin Rogers alleges that he was once at anchor 

 near one of these cliffs for an entire month without obtaining 

 a view of the summit ; and also that during that period his 

 ship on several occasions was felt to quiver from stem to stern 

 in a very frightful manner, the cause of which, as he subse- 

 quently ascertained, was the falling of immense blocks of ice 

 from the cliffs into the sea. Alternating with those huge bul- 

 warks of ice are some of the most beautiful beaches of black 

 sand, where the surf perpetually rolls up fresh from the South 

 pole. The only fish found along its shores is called the night 

 fish and resembles the cod. There is not a tree or shrub on 

 the island, and the vegetation is so limited that only two 

 varieties are ever mentioned in the journals before us, viz.; a 

 coarse kind of tussock grass and the wild cabbage. The birds 

 are about the same as those found on K.ergueler's land, viz.: 

 gulls, mollymokes or penguins, cape pigeons, and the alba- 

 tross. In the way of mammals it boasts of but one creature 

 alone, and that is the sea-elephant, but for these it is the most 

 profitable hunting ground in the world. 



What the lion is to tho common cat, the sea-elephant or 

 Morwnga proboscidea is to the seal— the mammoth representa- 

 tive. Though not uniform in size, they not unfrequently at- 

 tain a length of thirty feet, and a circumference of fifteen or 

 eighteen feet, the blubber of a single individual sometimes 

 yielding three hundred gallons of oil, which is considered more 

 valuable than that of the whale. The grown males have an 

 elongated snout, which gives them the name they bear : their 

 teeth are short aud deeply rooted, the molars small and 

 pointed and the caverns very large, and the power of then- 

 jaws so great that an angry male specimen has been known to 

 seize a dead comrade weighing a ton and toss him a consider- 

 able distance as a dog would a mouse. When quite young 

 they are called silver gray pups from their color, but as they 

 mature they become brown, the males mclining to a dark blue 

 and the females to yellow shade ; their home is the sea, but 

 they have a fashion of spending much of their time upon the 

 shore, occasionally going inland two or three miles and luxu- 

 riating in fresh water marshes ; they are sluggish in their move- 

 ments and somewhat stupid, and in certain localities they con- 



