n front,
where all their hogs run nearly wild, as they are prevented going beyond
those limits by those natural barriers; and the creatures who, at stated
periods, come up from the sea, remain in undisturbed possession of the
beaches beyond our immediate vicinity. The weather being favourable, we
launched our boat early in the morning, for the purpose of procuring a
supply of eggs for the consumption of the family. We heard the
chattering of the penguins from the rookery long before we landed, which
was noisy in the extreme, and groups of them were scattered all over the
beach; but the high thick grass on the declivity of the hill seemed
their grand establishment, and they were hidden by it from our view. As
we could not find any place where we could possibly land our boat in
safety, I and two more swam on shore with bags tied round our necks to
hold the eggs in, and the boat with one of the men lay off, out of the
surf. I should think the ground occupied by these _birds_ (if I may be
allowed so to call them) was at least a mile in circumference, covered
in every part with grasses and reeds, which grew considerably higher
than my head; and on every gentle ascent, beginning from the beach, on
all the large grey rocks, which occasionally appeared above this grass,
sat perched groups of these strange and uncouth-looking creatures; but
the noise which rose up from beneath baffles all description! As our
business lay with the noisy part of this community, we quietly crept
under the grass, and commenced our plundering search, though there
needed none, so profuse was the quantity. The scene altogether well
merits a better description than I can give--thousands, and hundreds of
thousands, of these little two-legged erect monsters hopping around us,
with voices very much resembling in tone that of the human; all opened
their throats together: so thickly clustered in groups that it was
almost impossible to place the foot without dispatching one of them. The
shape of the animal, their curious motions, and their most extraordinary
voices, made me fancy myself in a kingdom of pigmies. The regularity of
their manners, their all sitting in exact rows, resembling more the
order of a camp than a rookery of noisy birds, delighted me. These
creatures did not move away on our approach, but only increased their
noise, so we were obliged to displace them forcibly from their nests;
and this ejectment was not produced without a considerable stru