sh of
the same species as the above were caught on a hand-line.

Hunter, our biologist, was very unfortunate in crushing some of his
fingers while carrying a heavy case. This accident came at a time when
he had just recovered from a severe strain of the knee-joint which he
suffered during our activities in the Queen's Wharf shed at Hobart.
Several of us were just going out to the traps one afternoon when the
casualty occurred. Hunter was very anxious to go, so we waited until
McLean had sewn up a couple of his fingertips.

Weddell, and with them occasional crab-eater seals, were at this time
always to be found in numbers sleeping on the ice-foot around the boat
harbour. It appeared as if we would have plenty of meat throughout the
year, so I waited until the building was completed before laying in a
stock. The penguins, however, were diminishing in numbers fast and the
young birds in the rookeries had grown very large and were beginning to
migrate to warmer regions. Several parties, therefore, raided them and
secured some hundreds for the winter.

Giant petrels and skua gulls swarmed in flocks round the seals' and
penguins' carcases. These scavengers demolish an incredible amount of
meat and blubber in a short time. It is a diabolical sight to witness a
group of birds tearing out the viscera of a seal, dancing the while with
wings outspread.

During the afternoon of February 11 Webb came in with the news that a
sea elephant was making its way over the rocks near the shore. We rushed
out in time to see it standing over Johnson, one of the dogs, who,
true to his name, did not look abashed. Attracted by more formidable
antagonists, the monster left Johnson and came towards us. He was a
fair-sized male with a good skin, so we shot him before he had time to
get back into the sea. His measurements were seventeen feet six inches
in length and twelve feet in maximum circumference.

With the temperature well below freezing-point, skinning is cold work in
the wind, and must be done before the animal has time to freeze stiff. A
number of us set to work flaying. In order to move the mountain of flesh
a Westing purchase and a "handy-billy" (rope and block purchase) had to
be rigged. It was several hours before everything was disposed of; the
skin and skull for the biological collection and the meat and blubber
for the dogs. Ninnis and Mertz, who were the wardens of the dogs, cut up
about one ton of meat and blubber, and stored