PEGASUS—THE GIANT PETREL 101 
sunset the old birds might return, and that we 
should witness intimate greetings and interchange 
of food. They never came. At last, in despair 
at their phlegmatic apathy, we hauled our anchor 
and moved off, not indeed without regret, but 
without enthusiasm for the breed. ‘There was 
nothing ingratiating in the vomiting of the nest- 
lings. 
The day, nevertheless, had not been ill-spent. 
How indeed is it possible to misspend time in the 
wilderness ? We had seen a little—a very little— 
of a new species, and could carry away mental 
pictures to be afterwards pondered on pleasantly. 
Nets set in the sea-weed beds had yielded a 
rich harvest; our deck piled with fish in shape 
and colour previously unknown, we bade farewell 
to the southern end of the harbour. The cleaning 
and scrubbing of our catch, the swilling of our 
decks from time to time with water bucketed 
overside from the sea, the screams of Gull and 
Kittywake scrambling and quarrelling in the 
vessel’s wake, half diving for liver and roe; the 
chat of the sailor-men over the chances of their 
craft, the mystery of fading day in a new land, 
the smell of the unpeopled tracts—each of them 
was a part of a glorious first experience of Pegasus 
at night. 
The following morning we left for Kotiwhenu, 
and were not again on the mainland for many 
