SOUTHERN CRUISE. 143 



returned safely. Lieutenant Craven having entertained some fears of 

 the safety of the launch, which had been absent on a surveying excur- 

 sion, had despatched that vessel in pursuit of her. 



The Sea-Gull returned to Orange Harbour from the southern cruise 

 on the 22d of March, having, after parting company, visited, as 

 directed, Deception Island. On the morning after she left us (5th 

 March,) Lieutenant Johnson gives the following account of the situation 

 of the Sea-Gull: "The water was freezing about the decks, icicles, 

 forming with the direction of the wind, enveloping every thing, shipping 

 seas every five minutes, jib still hanging overboard, it was next to 

 impossibility for us to make sail, and we should even have found diffi- 

 culty in waring ship to avoid danger ; our foresheets were of the size 

 of a sloop of war's cable, from being so covered with ice ; there was 

 scarce a sheave that would traverse." After encountering thick and 

 foggy weather, they reached Deception Island on the 10th of March, 

 and anchored in Pendulum Cove. 



The weather was extremely unfavourable during his stay of a week, 

 being very boisterous. The plan of this bay by Lieutenant Kendall, 

 of the Chanticleer, with which I furnished Lieutenant Johnson, was 

 found accurate. On their landing, the bare ground that was seen, was 

 a loose black earth. The beds of the ravines and the beaches were of 

 a black and reddish gravel, much resembling pumice-stone in appear- 

 ance. Penguins were seen in countless numbers, or, as he expresses 

 it, " covered some hundreds of acres on the hill-side." It was then the 

 moulting season, and they were seen busily occupied in picking off 

 each other's feathers. It was an amusing sight to see them associated 

 in pairs, thus employed, and the eagerness with which the sailors 

 attacked them with the oars and boat-hooks. They were not inclined 

 to submit quietly to this intrusion, and in some instances readily 

 gave battle. Their manner in doing it was to seize the aggressor 

 with their bill, and beat him with their flippers. Their bearing 

 was quite courageous, and their retreat dignified, as far as their 

 ridiculous waddle would permit. They were showy-looking birds, 

 with yellow topknots, and are known as the Aptenadytes chrys- 

 ocoma. 



As an accompaniment to these penguins, a small white pigeon, 

 (Chironis or sheath-bill,) was found here, quite tame. These were 

 easily taken in numbers. They are not web-footed, have red legs and 

 bills, with perfectly white though not fine plumage. They seem to live 

 entirely on the dung of the penguin, and their flesh is black, coarse, 

 and unpalatable. Sailing up the bay, they descried a sea-leopard (the 

 Phoca leopardina Jam), which Lieutenant Johnson succeeded in taking ; 



