XV.] 
289 
VISIT TO A “ ROOKERY.’^ 
our way so that we had the wind in our faces. We could in 
this way, without disturbing them, come very near the animals, 
which, according to the undoubtedly somewhat exaggerated 
statement made to us on the spot, were collected at the time 
to the number of 200,000, on the promontory and the neigh¬ 
bouring shores. We obtained permission to creep, accom¬ 
panied by our guide, close to a herd lying a little apart. The 
older animals became at first somewhat uneasy when they 
SEA-BEARS ON THEIR WAY TO THE “ROOKERIES.” 
(After a drawing by H. W. Elliott.) 
observed our approach, but they soon settled down completely, 
and we had now the pleasure of beholding a peculiar spectacle. 
We were the only spectators. The scene consisted of a beach 
covered with stones and washed by foaming breakers, the back¬ 
ground of the immeasurable ocean, and the actors of thousands 
of wonderfully-formed animals. A number of old males lay 
still and motionless, heedless of what was going on around 
them. Others crept clumsily on their small short legs between 
VOL. IT. 
u 
