256 
FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
next time he bounced up alongside and looked horridly 
unpleasant; but a bullet through his neck made him vanish 
instantly. 
We got back to the ship after several hours' pulling, 
with a boat-load of skins, and as tired with lugging at 
these clumsy oars as if we had rowed all day. 
Friday, ^oth Dec- — -Spent the afternoon in my bunk 
attempting to paint ice-effects, — shut my ears to all 
interesting sounds of life on deck. After our midday 
meal my conscience went to rest and my body needed 
exercise, so I stood by for the first boat. The doctor has 
been skinning one of the Emperor penguins ; this is a 
most difficult task, and takes no end of patience. The 
body is to appear as a goose at New Year's dinner, and 
its skin will delight the eye of the public in some museum 
in far-away Scotland, There is a great quantity of muscle 
on its anatomy, which itself is slight compared with 
its bulk. Its pectoral muscles alone weighed fourteen 
pounds ; they must surely have other use than working 
its flippers. I have noticed they have great power in 
increasing or decreasing their bulk— I expect a good 
deal of the chest muscle is applied to this. 
It would be interesting to know to what depths they 
dive to find their food. I am inclined to believe that 
they feed on the soft bottom, and at great depths, 
from their having a long delicate beak, their enormous 
structural strength, and by reason of our never seeing 
them on the surface of the water. When we do see 
them they are on the snow islands, apparently resting, 
