et high upon which thousands of shags and other
birds have established rookeries. On the following morning we said
good-bye to the Ship, which weighed anchor and steamed away, leaving us
once more to our own devices.

All the flowering plants were now showing their extremely modest blooms,
and the tussock looked like a field of wheat, each stem having a decided
ear. The gentoo penguins, as well as the giant petrels, had hatched
their eggs, and the parent birds were shouldering full responsibilities.

Blake and Hamilton were now prepared for another visit to the southern
end. Blake had almost completed the chart of the island, and the
difference between it and the published chart was very striking. In the
latter case the south end was shown as being six miles wide, whereas it
is in reality only a little more than two miles across, and the width
of the island is nowhere more than three and a half miles. About twenty
miles from the southern end lie two islets known as the Bishop and
Clerk. The former, which is the larger, is covered with a growth of
tussock, while the latter is mainly bare rock.

A distinct rise in temperature was noticeable during November and the
mean worked out at 41.6 degrees, while the extremes were 49 degrees
and 82 degrees F. Strong winds were recorded on thirteen days and six
short-lived gales occurred. We had less precipitation than during any
previous month, as thirteen dry days were experienced. The average
cloudiness was 93 per cent.; largely due to the frequent foggy or misty
weather.

On December 2, at 10 A.M., Blake and I packed our sleeping-bags and
blankets and started for Sandy Bay. The swags weighed only thirty-five
pounds each and we made a rather quick trip.

After repairing the dilapidated shack, we sallied out for the purpose
of catching our evening meal, and with the aid of Mac soon succeeded in
getting eight wekas. A sea elephant was then killed, and the blubber,
heart and tongue taken; the first-named for use as fuel and the others
for food. We cleaned the wekas and put them in the pot, cooking the
whole lot together, a proceeding which enabled us to forgo cooking
a breakfast in the morning. The beach was swarming with young sea
elephants and many could be seen playing about in a small, shallow
lagoon.

Just south of the hut there is a sandy spit and one of the only
stretches of beach on the island, where thousands of penguins from
the adjacent rookeries were congregated, a