Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/69

63 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 63 November J^ih. Last night was the first disagreeable one we have experienced since leaving England. It blew very hard during the night and we shipped several heavy seas. However we esteemed ourselves fortunate in getting around Cape Horn with so little bad weather. It must be acknowledged that the dangers of C. Horn have been greatly exaggerated & we invariably find that the most experienced sailor talks le[a]st about them. No doubt as hard gales as those that blow offf] C. Horn are often experienced in the western ocean. Many travellers are apt to throw an air of the marvellous over what they have seen, but these horrid phantoms dissapear before the intelligent visitor. 8th. This [day] as it was nearly calm & the ship was surrounded by albatrosses, in the course of an hour we succeeded in catching 20 of them ; they were all of dusky black colour, & belonged to the species D, fulginasa. They were very large and one of them measured seven [feet] from wing to wing. The physiognomy of these animals is very curious. Their flat forhead & large eyes & very convex corneas, make them resemble an owl, & renders it probable that they seek their prey by night. Their oesophagus is large & plentifully furnished with nerves ; it is prolonged into a stomach of about the same capacity, but is more muscular & has many longitudinal rugw on its internal surface ; it is, however, destitute of glandular bodies. The stomach of P. Capensis on the other hand is quite covered on its internal surface with little glands which serve to secrete the oleaginous fluid. The second stomach of the albatross is moderately mus- cular. The intestines and liver resemble those of the P. Capensis. Their flesh tasted fishey & disagre[e]able, but was much prized by the sailors who preferred them to salt beef. What forms their chief food is most assuredly not fishes, for inspecting the stomach of a great many