238 British Antarctic Expedition. 
to live in luxury on fish in Robertson Bay. The 
seals, like the penguins, provided us with fresh food, 
and from time to time we killed them, and while the 
flesh was still warm and smoking, drank the blood as 
it spouted out from the wound made by the seal 
knife. It tasted blubbery, but I myself regarded it 
not alone as food, but as a great remedy against 
scurvy. Not unusually they attacked us in the 
kayaks, and it was with difficulty we prevented the 
kayaks from being torn. Generally we killed them 
by help of the seal knife, which, well handled, 
despatched them without pain. If the stroke was 
clean and bold at the heart, the seal would succumb 
almost immediately ; but if hit in a less vital spot 
it would struggle considerably, and it was difficult 
to kill it with a knife if you had not succeeded at 
the first blow. Then they rose on their flippers 
and with blood-shot eyes they rushed for you, while 
their blood spouted out and stained the pure white 
snow. It is hard to: kill a Seal TL mean the tee IS 
hard to man, especially within the Antarctic Circle 
where the track of man is not yet marked by the 
blood of seals, and where men’s bloodthirstiness is 
not yet known. Most of the seals allow you to get 
quite up to them without moving. Those who attack 
you are exceptions, but all of them look at you 
with two large, magnificent, moist dark eyes, in 
which the majesty of the creature defies you ; then 
down plunges the steel of civilisation and the 
picture is spoilt. 
I had ample opportunities of studying the 
Pagodroma Nivea (elegant white petrels) in their 
homes during the last sledge journey. Like its 
