A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 438 pages of information about A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1.

A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 438 pages of information about A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1.

Next morning, accompanied by Mr Forster, I went in the pinnace to survey the isles and rocks which lie in the mouth of the bay.  I began first with those which lie on the S.E. side of Anchor Isle.  I found here a very snug cove sheltered from all winds, which we called Luncheon Cove, because here we dined on cray fish, on the side of a pleasant brook, shaded by the trees from both wind and sun.  After dinner we proceeded, by rowing, out to the outermost isles, where we saw many seals, fourteen of which we killed and brought away with us; and might have got many more, if the surf had permitted us to land with safety on all the rocks.  The next morning, I went out again to continue the survey, accompanied by Mr Forster.  I intended to have landed again on the Seal Isles; but there ran such a high sea that I could not come near them.  With some difficulty we rowed out to sea, and round the S.W. point of Anchor Isle.  It happened very fortunately that chance directed me to take this course, in which we found the sportsmen’s boat adrift, and laid hold of her the very moment she would have been dashed against the rocks.  I was not long at a loss to guess how she came there, nor was I under any apprehensions for the gentlemen that had been in her; and after refreshing ourselves with such as we had to eat and drink, and securing the boat in a small creek, we proceeded to the place where we supposed them to be.  This we reached about seven or eight o’clock in the evening, and found them upon a small isle in Goose Cove, where, as it was low water, we could not come with our boat until the return of the tide.  As this did not happen till three o’clock in the morning, we landed on a naked beach, not knowing where to find a better place, and, after some time, having got a fire and broiled some fish, we made a hearty supper, having for sauce a good appetite.  This done, we lay down to sleep, having a stony beach for a bed, and the canopy of heaven for a covering.  At length the tide permitted us to take off the sportsmen; and with them we embarked, and proceeded for the place where we had left their boat, which, we soon reached, having a fresh breeze of wind in our favour, attended with rain.  When we came to the creek which was on the N.W. side of Anchor Isle, we found there an immense number of blue peterels, some on the wing, others in the woods in holes in the ground, under the roots of trees and in the crevices of rocks, where there was no getting them, and where we supposed their young were deposited.  As not one was to be seen in the day, the old ones were probably, at that time, out at sea searching for food, which in the evening they bring to their young.  The noise they made was like the croaking of many frogs.  They were, I believe, of the broad-bill kind, which, are not so commonly seen at sea as the others.  Here, however, they are in great numbers, and flying much about in the night, some of our gentlemen at first took them for bats.  After restoring the sportsmen to their boat, we all proceeded for the ship, which we reached by seven o’clock in the morning, not a little fatigued with our expedition.  I now learned that our friends the natives returned to their habitation at night; probably foreseeing that rain was at hand; which sort of weather continued the whole of this day.

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A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.