Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/139

 When we went below to change our clothes, we found our bodies and limbs covered with bruises. Several days afterward we captured a number of the king-penguins. One of them measured forty-eight inches from the tip of his tail to the end of his beak, and weighed thirty-two  pounds. They are now in the National Museum at Washington, D. C.

In cruising among the icebergs we found many crustacca and shrimps. These are believed to be the food of the numerous whales in these seas. They are also food for the penguins and other birds.

For several days nearly all the icebergs we saw were discolored with earth. Many seals were seen on them, basking in the sun. These seals were of different kinds and ages, from the small fur and hooded varieties to the  big sea-elephant. There were also many cape pigeons, white and gray, and large and small petrels.

February 16. The weather fair, and wind sou’east. To-day we discovered one of the largest sea-elephants we had ever seen. Two boats were lowered and sent to capture him. Many balls were fired at him, but he scarcely noticed them, simply raising his head and looking round. The two boats’ crews surrounded him, and then he commenced to flounder about, knocking them  helter-skelter on the ice. He soon reached the water, his native element, and so escaped. There was a large pond of muddy water on this iceberg, not frozen over,  though the weather was several degrees below freezing  point.

February 17. To-day began with snow squalls. The snow, instead of being in flakes, was in grains, very