102 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
forming part of a rookery about a mile from our hut, had 
landed at the end of July; and in the middle of August, 
when it became almost a necessity to resort to killing 
them for sustenance, the females came ashore, laid their 
eggs a fortnight later on the nests already formed or 
built by their lords, and we were only too glad to avail 
ourselves of this supply of food. The day previous to the 
penguins laying we had eaten our last potato, and were 
without any supply of provisions whatever. The only 
other birds within our reach were the night-birds, and a 
few thrushes and canaries ; of these the thrushes only 
were fit for food. In the first week of September 1872 
we were glad enough to sight a French bark, which hove- 
to off our beach, and whose captain landed after seeing 
our signals. We shipped in her our nineteen seal skins; 
and in return for a lot of eggs, her captain gave us about 
sixty pounds of biscuits and a couple of pounds of tobacco. 
Fearing the weather, the captain of this vessel did not land 
again, and we could not obtain any further supply. The 
bark was bound to the East Indies, and had she arrived 
a fortnight sooner both my brother and myself would cer- 
tainly have been most glad to quit our habitation. A fort- 
night on a diet of eggs ad libitum had so far restored our 
strength that we decided yet to remain. During the next 
month our food consisted of eggs and biscuits from the 
French vessel. In October 1872, on the 20th, a schooner 
(fore-and-aft) was seen standing in towards the island. 
She proved to be the Themis, a schooner making sealing 
voyages amongst the islands in the South Atlantic, from 
the Cape of Good Hope. A gale of wind drove her to sea 
for two days, when she returned and communicated, landing 
six men and boys in a boat from Tristan d’Acunha. The 
captain of the schooner, who landed with them, was civil, 
and offered me some salt pork and biscuits ; we accepted 
about thirty pounds of the former and a small quantity of 
