Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/77

71 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO N. W. AMERICA. 71 was so great as to prevent us from preparing even the few that we thought were nondescript. 12th. In this day's excursion we detected a wood about tolerably free from brush wood & abounding in [illegible] & grass ; this situation afforded plenty of food to the land tortoises which abound here. Our principal difficulty consisted in taking them to the shore which was a most fatiguing occupation under such a sun & travelling over loose masses of lava. The birds here were such strangers to man as to allow us to knock them of(f) the branches on which they were perched, & it was not an uncommon thing for them to alight upon the stick which we carried in our hand. In pursuing this amusement I lost my way among a very dense brush wood composed of Gossypia T. & it cost me an hour & a half fatiguing exertion to extricate myself from the labarynth & reach the boat. In the evening we returned to the ship with an ample supply of such refreshments as the place afforded. We had as many as we thought fit to carry off, about 2 doz. teal killed by Mr. Douglass, six large green turtles, & two land tortoises, & plenty of Iguanas. It is an extensive labour, & would require a more exten- sive knowledge of the island than can be acquired in a transient visit of two days, to give an account of the natural productions. The only mammiferous animal we saw was a species of seal with very short brown hair, & very small external ears. Birds are very numerous, particularly ma- rine onx & gralla). It is remarkable that the penguin (Aptenodytes) an animal which generally delights in cold latitudes should take its abode under the equator. The Pelecanus onocrotulus [?] abounds on every rock, there was a beautifull species of Sula equally abundant, & is in all probability a new species. Its colours are very fine & the feet are of a very bright azure blue. On the most elevated