32 



Porter's Voyage 



boards and that part of the blood was floating alongside ; but on 

 a close examination I perceived them to have at times a very 

 quick motion, and on directing some of them to be caught in a 

 bucket, discovered them to be young craw-flsh, of different sizes, 

 but generally from one inch in length to one tenth that size. 

 The ocean appeared filled with them : and from the immense 

 number of birds that kept about this spot, I am induced to be- 

 lieve that no small number of them were daily devoured. They 

 did not appear to be governed by any general laws, each one 

 pursuing his own course, and shifting for himself ; no two ap- 

 pearing in the same direction ; and it is probable that, as soon as 

 they left the egg, each one began to seek his own subsistence. 

 Two of them were put into a bottle of sea-water, and on some 

 crumbs of bread being thrown in, they seized and devoured them 

 very ravenously. 



The supercargo appeared to be a man of considerable intelli- 

 gence ; and when I inquired where was the most suitable place 

 to proceed to give protection to British vessels, and annoy those 

 of the United States, he advised me to go to leeward, observing 

 that the Grallipagos Islands were much frequented by the British 

 whale-ships, and between that and the latitude of the Lobos 

 Islands, I should most likely find many Americans, as the sea 

 thereabouts was full of them. 



At daylight in the morning, we stretched away to the westward, 

 leaving the Barclay to steer to the northward, and spread to such 

 a distance as just to see her signals, and closed at night. This 

 course we pursued until our arrival off Cape Ajugia, where we 

 arrived on the morning of the 10th. In our run we passed 

 near to the islands of Lobos de la Mare, and Lobos de la 

 Terre ; they are two small islands, situated some distance 

 from the continent, and at the distance of five leagues from 

 each other, bearing N. N. W. and S. S. E. ; they appear 

 to be perfectly destitute of vegetation, and serve as a re- 

 sidence to an immense number of birds, with which the hills 

 were covered. There can be no doubt that an abundance of 

 seals may be caught on them, as in passing we were surrounded 

 with them, one of which we struck with the harpoon. The sea 

 was here also covered with pelicans, and various other aquatic 

 birds, feeding on the shoals of small fish, which were to be 

 seen in great numbers, constantly pursued by seals, bonetas, and 

 porpoises ; and such as attempted to escape their ravenous jaws 

 by jumping out of the water, were immediately snapped up 

 by the innumerable swarms of birds that were hovenng over 

 them. 



On our arrival off Ajuiga, we had another opportunity of wit- 

 nessing a similar scene; and as the water was perfectly smooth 



