enormous size. I have myself seen
several which would weigh from twelve to fifteen hundred pounds,
although I do not remember that any navigator speaks of having seen them
weighing more than eight hundred. Their appearance is singular, and even
disgusting. Their steps are very slow, measured, and heavy, their bodies
being carried about a foot from the ground. Their neck is long, and
exceedingly slender, from eighteen inches to two feet is a very common
length, and I killed one, where the distance from the shoulder to the
extremity of the head was no less than three feet ten inches. The head
has a striking resemblance to that of a serpent. They can exist without
food for an almost incredible length of time, instances having been
known where they have been thrown into the hold of a vessel and lain
two years without nourishment of any kind--being as fat, and, in every
respect, in as good order at the expiration of the time as when they
were first put in. In one particular these extraordinary animals bear
a resemblance to the dromedary, or camel of the desert. In a bag at the
root of the neck they carry with them a constant supply of water. In
some instances, upon killing them after a full year's deprivation of all
nourishment, as much as three gallons of perfectly sweet and fresh water
have been found in their bags. Their food is chiefly wild parsley and
celery, with purslain, sea-kelp, and prickly pears, upon which latter
vegetable they thrive wonderfully, a great quantity of it being usually
found on the hillsides near the shore wherever the animal itself is
discovered. They are excellent and highly nutritious food, and have,
no doubt, been the means of preserving the lives of thousands of seamen
employed in the whale-fishery and other pursuits in the Pacific.

The one which we had the good fortune to bring up from the storeroom was
not of a large size, weighing probably sixty-five or seventy pounds.
It was a female, and in excellent condition, being exceedingly fat, and
having more than a quart of limpid and sweet water in its bag. This
was indeed a treasure; and, falling on our knees with one accord, we
returned fervent thanks to God for so seasonable a relief.

We had great difficulty in getting the animal up through the opening, as
its struggles were fierce and its strength prodigious. It was upon the
point of making its escape from Peter's grasp, and slipping back into
the water, when Augustus, throwing a rope with