Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/70

64 64 DR. JOHN SCOULER. individuals, I only found a species of crab & some Phy- salia3. One of them when taken vomited a large pulpey [mass] which with difficulty was recognized to be a Sepia. 20th. Today we had very blowey weather & the wind unfavourable which obliged us to be under close reefed top sails. This weather did not last long & we were soon enabled to bear away to the northward. December 5th. Mr. Douglass caught three albatross, they were very different from those we had procured further south. Their plumage was more light, than in the D. fuliginosa & their bill was of a milk white colour. These birds were very large, one of them weighed 18 pounds, & measured 12 feet between the extremities of the wings. They appeared to be the D. exulans ; but unfor- tunately were incapable of preservation as this was their moulting season. The feathers of these birds abounded in a large species of Painus [Mallophaga] probably a new one ; & in their intestines I found two different kinds of worms, one of them approached the diameter of the genus Fuseola j ?j & the [other] I did not decide. I have pre- served specimens of these three animals. 14th. Since 5th we have seen very few birds the alba- trosses & Procellaria have disappeared ; but this morning the abundance of birds about us seemed to indicate the vicinity of land & we were not dissapointed. In the fore- noon the island of Masafuera was seen bearing NNE. The surface of this island was unequal & rugged & ter- minating abruptly toward the sea; so as to render it of very difficult access. The highest land we saw might be about 200 feet above the level of the ocean. 15th. To-day the Island of Juan Fernandez was seen, though still at a very great distance. The fascinating de- scriptions of this island in the voyages of Anson and others, but still more I believe the popular romance in- timately connected with its history, rendered every one