The Europa had experienced a hard time of it since we had last seen her, meeting with several of those accidents which the vicissitudes of a seaman’s life render him ever liable to—having, in the first place, shipped a sea that went completely over her, and stove the three larboard boats almost beyond repair; then, again, having run close in towards the land in hopes of seeing us, she had been jammed between the Turtle Dove, Abrolhas’ and main land, in a gale of wind, when crowding sail to madness was their only hope; but, fortunately, a timely shift of wind enabled them to clear the main land by a hair’s breadth, and dispelled all their gloomy fears.
On the 16th both vessels stood in for the Abrolhas’ Islands, and at 9 o’clock were snugly anchored amid the cluster, of which, by ascending our tops, twenty-five different islands could be counted. As soon as our ground-tackle was secured, we struck the topsail and topgallant yards and the topgallantmasts, housed our mizzen topmast, and then unbent all the sails, except the spensers: our object being to present as little surface as possible to the action of the wind; thereby rendering our anchorage more secure. The anchorage showed coarse white sand, combined with pulverized coral and shell, which constitutes excellent holding-ground.
Not expecting the humpbacks in before the first of August, we passed the time in making excursions to the various islands of the group. We soon found a novel and exciting sport in the destruction of seals, which exist here in great numbers. These creatures bring forth their young on the land; and, this being the season in which they breed, they could at all times he seen basking in the sun, fast asleep, and quietly enjoying themselves to the full. Our method of attack was to approach as slyly as possible, and deal heavy blows on the tip of the nose, which is the most sensitive portion of their organism. If well aimed, the first blow despatches them; but, on the contrary, if you should deliver it on the shoulders, back, or quarters, it seems to produce no deleterious effect on the animal, which instantly rears upon his hind flippers, and, with a sharp, querulous yelp, displays a set of ivories little inferior to those of the lion; however, it requires hardly any address on the part of the pursuer to avoid him. When the animal once gets into water, no matter how shallow, farther chase becomes hopeless, as it can then propel itself at a powerful rate; but while on land, though its movements are by no means slow, it is no match for a good runner.
A young seal, by the knowing ones said to be about six weeks old, was captured alive, passed into the boat, and carried aboard the ship. It seemed in no wise disconcerted, except at night when a light was placed near its eyes, whereat it became much alarmed. It showed but little timidity when caressed, and evidently considered our dog as one of its own species, so solicitous was it to form an intimacy with him; but puppy fought shy, and avoided companionship with the amphibious creature. From its docility, we anticipated keeping it for a long time; yet during the several days that it was retained, although offered both small and large fish, it would partake of no sustenance, but wandered fore and aft the decks, crying for its dam in a note not unlike that the cow-calf uses on similar occasions. We were at last reluctantly compelled to kill it—stuffing the skin for a memorial. The skins of these, known as the hair-seal variety, are of little value intrinsically; but, being easily tanned, they were very useful to us as chafing-gear for the rigging.
Some of our savants, having either themselves eaten, or having heard of other persons eating, the liver of the seal, assiduously extracted, cleaned, and cooked one. It being a young seal, the dish proved very palatable, in taste much resembling hog’s liver. All now became alert to procure a fresh supply of them; but, as it happened, the next seal pitched upon was a patriarch of the gang, whose destroyers were overjoyed indeed at the quantity yielded by their prize, and brought it aboard the ship with the air of conquerors. The cook dressed it; but, lo, and behold! the following day, most of those who had partaken of it were affected by nausea at the stomach and distressing headache—half of the number being unable to leave their berths: consequences, I opine, arising from the indigestibility of the liver, rendered tough by the animal’s great age. Since then I have been assured that this is by no means an isolated case of indisposition from the same cause.
In rambling, we found Long Island the most inviting of the group. It was scantily furnished with several varieties of low shrubs; amongst which were the native Australian gooseberry and a species of wild oats. There are also on the island several thickets of the mangrove, which, from the peculiar growth of the trees, though of only a moderate height, are almost impenetrable. This tree affords excellent fuel, and we took advantage of this by cutting and carrying away some eight or ten cords of it for firewood. Its fracture is of a light yellowish color, and the heart of it is decayed, but I cannot say whether this is owing to the bad quality of the soil, or is a natural characteristic of the wood. It is very heavy. The leaf is small, and eagerly sought for by the rabbits, which abound on the island. Several pairs of these little creatures were placed here years ago, and they have increased until their number is legion. Had they a supply of fresh water, they would in a short time become so much more numerous as to consume all the herbage within their reach. We seldom visited the island without bringing away half-a-dozen of them. Occasionally, in running our arms into the burrows for rabbits, we would take hold of a disgusting iguana, or get a handful of small eggs, deposited by a very diminutive variety of gull, that burrows in the ground, and there hatches its young. The whole island is excavated by these little diggers. Their eggs, almost double the size of a pigeon-egg, have a white shell, and are very excellent eating. The larger gulls lay an egg superior in size to those of our domestic hens, which are mottled, and food fit for an epicure. The shag, another variety, lays a pink egg, of goodly size, which is also equally palatable. These birds would lay on the bare ground; and, on our robbing their depositories, they would move to another island, and repeat the process. This they did four or five times, and at last either gave up in despair, or lit upon some place secure from our depredations; for we were unable to procure a further supply.
On Long Island we saw several osprey-nests, in one of which were eggs; in another, the half-fledged young of the species. The eggs were about the size of a goose-egg; but, as we had reason to think they were addled, we had no opportunity of testing their fitness for the table.
During the whole of one day we observed immense flocks of birds flying in the direction of this island, and on visiting it found the clumps of mangroves literally swarming with small birds about the size of a blackbird, busily engaged in building nests from the kelp which is thrown up by the surf. They seemed to take but little notice of us. We held a consultation, and finally decided that they were fit to be eaten, and, in pursuance of this resolution, began bagging them. This we found but little trouble; all that was necessary being to ascend one of the mangrove trees, and, as the birds wheeled around in circles to more nearly examine our, to them, strange appearance, knock them down left and right. In this way but very few minutes elapsed before we had sufficient for our purposes—two hundred and fifty of the little feathered bipeds being a mess for the ship’s company; and all united in deciding that they made an exceedingly savory stew. We repeated the operation often after having been initiated into their good qualities. Some idea may be formed of the number consumed, when I state that the feathers, which were saved by old Jack, weighed twenty pounds; the old salt in his green old age being determined to have a soft bed to repose his weatherworn limbs upon. To this end he had been collecting feathers during the greater part of the voyage—albatrosses, monimokes, ducks, pigeons, hawks, and whale birds, contributing each their quota to his store.
I cannot take leave of this subject without attempting to give some idea of the immense numbers of the birds. I had read of the innumerable flocks of wild pigeons which frequent our Western States, and I had seen at sea immense flocks of various birds migrating to other countries, but I had never formed an estimate that came within many removes of the actual number I here saw. I can indeed liken them to nothing else, as regards number, than a swarm of bees; their bodies obscuring the sun’s light when they passed overhead, and a stone thrown at random never failing to meet a mark.
The conchological specimens found on these islands are varied but inelegant; they comprise both descriptions of the nautilus—the true and paper varieties being found in abundance. These shells externally possess but little beauty, but on being sawn apart in a lateral direction, they present a handsome pearly arrangement contained in an air-tight apartment in the base of the shell. A small variety of the cowrie, too, is abundant. There are also periwinkles, scollops, and oysters, all three of which are excellent eating, and, therefore, were in great request with us.