268 FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
and the other went waggling below our keel. It was an 
uncanny-looking beast, down in the dark water, huge and 
long, of a greenish white colour ; it was fully thirty yards 
long. 
To-day we found another black seal full of fish and 
penguins. It is a wonder these penguins continue to 
exist with such powerful and numerous enemies. A few 
sheathbill came about the ship to-night ; they seem to 
move about in the evening more than in the day, though 
we see them at all hours. 
It is a strange sight to see such pretty white birds 
feeding on raw, bloody flesh. I have been told by the 
men that they had seen some with red breasts ; but I 
rather think the red must have been caused by the blood 
of the seals. We often see them standing on the snow 
beside living seals. Fresh meat must surely be quite an 
exceptional diet with them. 
This has been the most dismal New Year's Eve that 
I trust any of our ship's company have spent or ever 
will spend, but to go into the cause of the gloom 
would be here too long a matter. 
