108 
CBUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
When met by the Challenger , our time reckoning was one 
day wrong. This error, I suspect, occurred soon after our 
landing. 
The dogs left us for the penguin rookery, in spite of our 
efforts to secure them with ropes near the hut. They killed 
a large number of penguins, and became very wild and 
savage, paying no attention to us. One of them appearing 
mad, we shot all three. 
To mount to the top of the island on the west side was 
comparatively easy; the tussack grass was not necessary 
to aid the climber, the ascent being made easier by the 
existence of two or three ledges, on which a rest could be 
procured whilst walking along their extent. The lowest 
ledge might have been about twenty acres, the higher ones 
decreasing into mere shelves. The top of the island, over 
which we could roam for game, was about four miles in 
diameter, almost round ; but the ground was much cut up 
by ravines and valleys. The whole top was covered with a 
poor sort of grass and sedge, and trees blown down by the 
winter gales ; the sheltered spots only being wooded by live 
timber, and that of a small description. 
Close to the ridge, on the north side, there was a long 
valley, through which the water of the cascade ran, and here 
was situated my hut. The cave was on a ledge lower down, 
on the north-east side. 
To mount to the ridge on the east side, after swimming 
the point, great exertion and caution were necessary. With- 
out the aid of the tussack grass it would have been im- 
possible to mount; and even with this an hour and a 
half’s hard work with hands and feet, and at times teeth, 
was required. The height of the ridge was about 1200 
feet. 
On the north side, the beach to which we were confined was 
about a mile in extreme length, and from 300 yards on the 
right to 200 yards on the left broad. Our hut was on the left, 
