132 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
we had our first glimpse of really Antarctic scenery, 
for picturesque glaciers descended to the sea on 
all its sides. Explorers landed and discovered a 
party of sealers located here, “ living ” in a couple of 
dirty huts sunk in the ground for warmth and pro- 
tection from the winds, which frequently blow with 
violence through a deep ravine. There are some forty 
or fifty men distributed about the island in small 
detachments, each party having a defined beat where 
they watch for the sea-elephants coming on shore. 
What a miserable affair a sealer’s life evidently must 
be, hard and monotonous, living in those desolate 
regions, completely isolated from the world ! Here 
they remain for three years at a time, when, if they are 
lucky, they return home, with perhaps 50 1 . or 60Z. 
in their pockets. This is probably spent in a couple 
of months, and they again return to their voluntary 
exile and live on penguins, young albatrosses, and 
sea-birds’ eggs for another -period. The roads (?) in 
every direction were sw^ampy and exceedingly un- 
pleasant ; wading through the snow and slush, the 
miserable huts were reached, looking lonely and 
desolate, the shore for some distance being strewn 
with bones and fragments, the remains of sea- 
elephants, &c. Several excursions were planned 
during our short stay to visit the glaciers and the 
penguin rookeries, for these birds seemed to be in 
myriads, covering every ledge and precipice pre- 
senting a footing. 
