THE ALBATROSS. 
237 
hours, as she sailed at the rate of two hundred miles 
per day, from the irregular flight of the bird, the space 
it went over could not have been less than three or 
four times that distance. Their reason for preferring 
rough weather to smooth may easily be accounted 
for, the agitation of the waves no doubt bringing to 
the surface those marine animals which serve them 
for food ; they will glide down on them with un- 
erring aim and fearful force, transfixing whatever 
they have aimed at with their large, strong, and 
trenchant bill. 
A poor fellow who fell overboard from a man-of- 
war, off the island of St. Paul's, in the Southern 
Indian Ocean, was immediately perceived by two or 
three Albatrosses; the boat was lowered with all 
speed, but nothing was found excepting his hat, 
pierced through and through with the violent stroke 
of their beaks, the first of which had, most probably, 
penetrated the skull and caused instant death. 
These birds are found round the whole circle of 
the globe in the Southern Seas, retiring to breed in 
the most desolate and dreary situations. Captain 
Weddell, who has penetrated further into these 
inhospitable southern regions than any other navi- 
gator, met with them, in great numbers, amidst the 
icy rocks of the New South Shetlands, associating, 
as we shall hereafter see, with the Penguins ; though, 
in the dreary island of Tristan d'Acunha, another 
traveller, Mr. Earle, describes them as the sole occu- 
pants, without any interloper, whether friend or 
enemy. In the higher regions, amidst the barren 
and cindery peaks of black rocks composing that 
dismal island, he found the young ones on the ground, 
