Page:Castaway on the Auckland Isles (IA castawayonauckla01musg).pdf/52

36 for them. It was late at night when we returned to the camp. We have now got some good roads made about the house, which was very necessary, for the ground is so soft that after any part of it has been trodden a little it becomes mud, which in this damp weather never has a chance to get dry. We are also getting a considerable clearing round the place; for we burn a great deal of wood—not less than a large cart-load a day. Consequently it is getting cut down very fast. Light airs from N.W. and thick fog to-day. Barometer falling, 29⋅50; thermometer 40°.

Sunday, June 12, 1864.—During the past week the weather has been bad. We have had a good deal of S.W. and southerly gales, with snow; but this has all disappeared again. Yesterday we went out in the boat to look for something to eat; but unfortunately (and for the first time) we got nothing but half-a-dozen small fish. We were not able to get any mussels, as the tide was not low enough (it being now neaps), and we did not see a single seal on shore. They appear to keep in the water almost constantly. Now, as the water is warmer than the air, and they only come on shore in the night, after dark, to sleep, and go into the water before daylight, it would be madness for us to go through the bush to look for them in the dark. They are very numerous in the water, and if we actually get hard up for something to eat, I shall fasten to one with a harpoon. But our boat is only a dingy, and so frail that I am afraid she will not stand it, or else I would have tried it before this time; for 'tis now a fortnight since we got one, and for the last few days we have lived on pickling. We have to look pretty sharp after our bellies now, and I fear very much that we shall go hungry yet before the winter is out.

It is very fortunate that the weather is not severely cold, and I am somewhat surprised at it; for we have scarcely had frost as yet, and it is now mid-winter. On Friday morning we found ice in a tub, about as thick as