PENGUIN. 571 
them, that three hundred have been taken in the 
course of an hour ; for they are so stupid that they 
make no effort to escape, but stand by while others 
are knocked down, till it comes to their turn. 
Bougainville attempted to bring one of them alive 
to Europe ; it grew sufficiently tame to distinguish 
and follow the person who had the charge of feed- 
ing it, and it ate indifferently bread, flesh, or fish. 
But this diet was not sufficient ; it absorbed its fat, 
became excessively emaciated, and died. 
The illustrious Captain Cook, who penetrated 
further amidst the southern ice, and with more in- 
trepidity, than any navigator before him, observes, 
that the penguins increased in numbers as he ad- 
vanced into higher latitudes and colder climates ; 
they even swarm about the antarctic circle, where 
the islands are desolate, deserted, without verdure, 
and buried beneath eternal snow. “ The cold was 
intense,” says Cook ; “ the two islands were covered 
with hoar frost and snow, and no trees or shrubs ap- 
peared ; we saw no living creature, except the shags 
and the penguins ; the last were so numerous that 
they seemed to incrust the rock.” 
They are said to sleep extremely sound, and to 
be very tenacious of life: the former was ascer- 
tained by Dr. Sparrman, who tells us that he stum- 
bled over one of them and kicked it several yards 
without disturbing its rest; and Mr. Forster says 
that he left a number of them apparently lifeless, 
while he went in pursuit of others ; but they all 
afterwards got up and marched off with the utmost 
