SHOALS OF SFALS. 
109 
thick and closely packed they seem to ns to throw off 
the shot. His beautifully white breast and glossy 
black plumage greatly interested us, but for lack of 
the requisite materials for preserving the skins, we 
were unable to bring back specimens. The sailors 
enjoyed the flesh of these birds, but our cook did not 
give us the opportunity of testing its gastronomic 
qualifications. At 6 p.m. the fog lifted, and we had 
a fine view of Mount Beerenberg, bearing S.W. \ 
at a distance of about eighty miles ; the wind was. 
from south-west, and the weather fine. Running 
with a light breeze along the edge of the floe in the 
fog on the 8 th of June, the ice itself trending towards 
the north-east, we find ourselves suddenly surrounded 
by a large shoal of seals; they, too, are racing north, 
and, as they go, they turn inquisitive looks upon us, and 
then dash off into the wildest games ever contem¬ 
plated by boys suddenly released from school, plung¬ 
ing head foremost into the waves; the young and 
old together rearing themselves half out of the water 
in their mad gambols, whilst a man seated aloft in 
the “ crow’s-nest ” keeps constant watch upon their 
movements, in the hope that the herds, growing 
weary of play, will betake themselves to the snow- 
covered ice, where they seem to enjoy the warm 
rays of the sun, as they roll over and over, and 
