28 AT SEA. 



They attain a length of from twenty to thirty feet, and 

 have a tusk in proportion. A superior quality of oil is 

 extracted from the blubber, and is considered as a gfreat 

 delicacy by the Greenlanders. The ivory of the tusks is 

 exceedingly dense and hard, white, and easily polished. It 

 constitutes a valuable article of commerce, but it is getting 

 scarce. The celebrated throne of the Danish kings is made of 

 these tusks. 



In the evening of the 14th, the pilot arrived on board. It 

 was great excitement for those who spoke English. Every- 

 one was anxious to have news of San Francisco, the placers, 

 etc. We were about thirty miles from that town, and with the 

 hope of arriving there in the night, when we were surrounded 

 by such a dense fog that nothing could be seen three yards 

 ahead. It was just as bad as what we know as a London 

 November fog. 



In the circumstances, the pilot said that it was quite 

 useless to try the passage of the channel that night, so we 

 had to bring down all sails and try to keep our position until 

 the morrow. During the night, many whales were seen quite 

 close to the ship, and earlv the next morning, when the fog 

 cleared a little, we saw large quantities of birds, fishes, cetaceae, 

 and seals around the ship. - 



Among the birds, the most conspicuous were gulls, terns, 

 grebes, and guillemots, Uria grylle. This last species is 

 found all over the world ; but this is the great place for them. 

 All the uninhabited islands near the coast of California, and 

 even in the bay of San Francisco, are crowded with these 

 birds, and in the breeding season, boat-loads of their eggs 

 arrive every day in the San Francisco market. 



The Guillemot belongs to the order of Impennes, family 

 Uriidae. It is web-footed, and closely allied to the penguins^ 

 and to the auks, which family includes also the now supposed 

 extinct species Chenalopex impennis, or Great Auk. The 

 actual value of a good skin of the great auk is between ;Ê300 

 and £400, and the last ^<g^ of this species sold in London 

 three years ago, fetched £\^o. 



The Guillemot is a bird of the size of a goose. It has a 

 straight bill arched at the point and with a notch, its tail is 

 short, the wings are extremely short. It is brownish-black 

 above and white underneath. It breeds in vast numbers on 

 the narrow ledges of rocks, where they may be seen in 

 successive rows one above another. In some uninhabited 

 rocky islands, they can be seen in thousands, occupying all 



