As Soon As Day Appeared On The 13th, Every One Went Cheerfully To Work, In Repairing That Side Of The Boat Which Was Most Injured, Which Was Quite Refitted Before Night.

Next day the other side was repaired; and having loaded her with 450 penguins, they went aboard on the evening of the 14th, having been three days on shore.

While they were catching penguins on the 12th, they found a savage woman, who had hid herself in one of the holes. At the time when Van Noort landed here, there was a band of savages on the island, by whom two of his men were slain; in revenge of which Van Noort had destroyed them all but this woman, who was then wounded, and who now shewed her wounds to the seamen. She was tall and well-made; her hair cut quite close to her head, and her face painted, having a kind of cloak on her body, made of the skins of beasts and birds, neatly sewed together, and reaching down to her knees, besides which she had a skin apron; so that the savages on the north side of these straits appear to be more modest in their apparel than those on the south side. By the dead body of one of these savages, who had been slain by Van Noort, it appeared that the men wore their hair very long; besides which his head was ornamented with fine feathers, and he had others round his body. They use bows and arrows, the arrows being very neatly pointed with hard flints. De Weert gave this woman a knife, who informed him by signs, that he would find a greater plenty of birds in the larger island. They left her where she was, though she requested, by signs, to be transported to the continent. They now went to the larger island, in order to get a larger supply of birds.

The old penguins weigh from twelve to sixteen pounds, and the young ones from eight to twelve. They are black on the back, with white bellies, and some have a white ring round their necks, so that they are almost half white half black. Their skin is much like that of a seal, and as thick as the skin of a wild boar. The bill is as long as that of a raven, but not so crooked; the neck short and thick, and the body as long as that of a goose, but not so thick. Instead of wings, they have only two fins or pinions, covered with feathers, which hang down as they walk upright, and by means of which they swim with great strength. They have black feet, like those of a goose, and they walk upright, with their fins or pinions hanging down like the arms of a man, so that when seen at a distance they look like so many pigmies. They seldom come ashore except in the breeding season, and then they nestle together, three or four in one hole, which they dig in the downs as deep as those of rabbits, and the ground is so full of them, that one is liable almost at every step to sink into them up to the knees.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 119 of 431
Words from 61694 to 62236 of 224764