Jan.] 



CHRISTMAS HARBOUR — SEALS. 



63 



half a mile of her anchorage. On the islands at the mouth of the 

 bay are rookeries of the albatross, &c. There are also to be had 

 here some Port Egmont hens, sea-hens, cape-pigeons, blue petrels, 

 ducks, teal, and the Nelly, most of which are palatable, if taken when 

 they are young. 



Christmas Harbour may be known from any other harbour in the 

 island by the projecting point of Cape Francois, which terminates in 

 a high rock, perforated quite through, so as to form a natural arch, like 

 that of a gateway or bridge. The outer harbour is only open to east- 

 erly winds, and is sheltered by a number of islands about six miles 

 from the anchorage, which protect it from any sea that could injure a 

 ship. It is high water here on full and change days at a quarter 

 past 10 o'clock. The entrance of the harbour is in lat. 48^ 40' S., 

 long. 69° 6' E. 



Many of the hills on this island, though of moderate height, were 

 covered with snow, notwithstanding that the season was now midsum- 

 mer, January, corresponding to our July. Yet still, in approaching the 

 harbour, the sunny declivities of the snow-crowned eminences present 

 many cheering spots of living verdure. This appearance, however, 

 is a promise to the eye soon to be broken to the hope ; for it is not 

 the grassy robe which nature wears in almost every other section of her 

 dominions. The illusion is caused by a small plant resembling saxifrage, 

 which grows upon the hills in large swelling tufts, on a kind of rotten 

 turf. Near the base of the hills, in a boggy kind of soil, is another 

 plant plentifully scattered about, which grows to the height of nearly 

 two feet. It presents the appearance of a small cabbage that is shoot- 

 ing into seed, and has the watery acrid taste imputed to it by Mr. An- 

 derson.* Here also still grows the androgynous plant mentioned by 

 the same ingenious naturalist nearly sixty years ago, whose remarks 

 on such subjects have already, and will frequently in the course of 

 this narrative, supply my own deficiency in the science of natural his- 

 tory. The coarse grass near the harbour, the moss, the lichen, &c, 

 are all correctly described ; and he truly observes that " there is not 

 the appearance of a tree or shrub on the whole island." 



Of animals, besides those before mentioned, there are a few seal of 

 the fur and hair kinds, and numbers of sea-elephants. These am- 

 phibious animals come on shore in the month of November, to bring 

 forth and nurse their young. On these occasions the females are po- 

 litely attended by their respective male partners, who meet them near 

 the shore or on it, where they remain until May. They often form 

 their rookeries one or two hundred yards from the water. They bring 

 forth their young and nurse them in the same manner as the canine 

 species do ; and for two weeks after their birth the young ones are as 

 helpless as canine pups of the same age. The art of swimming, it 

 appears, is not theirs by instinct, as they know nothing about it until 

 taught by their parents. When they are three or four weeks old, the 

 mothers drag them to the water by the neck, and give them their first 

 lesson in the science of aquatic locomotion. 



* Captain Cook's surgeon. 



