54 TRAVELS IN 
were like furious harpies let loofe againft us ; 
and their cries rendered us almoft deaf. They 
often flew fo near us, that they flapped their 
wings in our faces ; and, though we fired our 
pieces repeatedly, we were not able to frighten 
them : it feemed almofl: impoflible to difperfe 
this cloud. We could not move one ftep 
without crufhing either their eggs or their 
young ones, fo that the earth was entirely 
ftrewed with them. 
The caverns and crevices of the rocks were 
inhabited by phocce and morfeSy a kind of 
fea calves and fea lions. Among others, we 
killed one of the latter j which was of an im- 
menfe fize. 
The f mailer crevices ferved as places of re- 
treat for penguins, which fwarm here above 
every other kind. This bird, which is about 
two fee-t in length, does not carry its body in 
the fame manner as others ; it ftands perpen- 
dicularly on its two feet, which gives it an 
air of gravity, fo much the more ridiculous, 
as its wings, which have no feathers, hang 
carelefsly down on each fide : it never ufes 
them but in fwlmmlng. As we advanced 
tQW#irds, the middle of the ifland, we met In- 
numerable 
