laugher himself. A death-like stillness prevailed in these high regions,
and, to my ear, our voices had a strange, unnatural echo, and I fancied
our forms appeared gigantic, whilst the air was piercing cold. The
prospect was altogether very sublime, and filled the mind with awe! On
the one side, the boundless horizon, heaped up with clouds of silvery
brightness, contrasted with some of darker hue, enveloping us in their
vapour, and, passing rapidly away, gave us only casual glances of the
landscape; and, on the other hand, the sterile and cindery peak, with
its venerable head, partly capped with clouds, partly revealing great
patches of red cinders, or lava, intermingled with the black rock,
produced a most extraordinary and dismal effect. It seemed as though it
were still actually burning, to heighten the sublimity of the scene. The
huge albatross appeared here to dread no interloper or enemy; for their
young were on the ground completely uncovered, and the old ones were
stalking around them. This bird is the largest of the aquatic tribe; and
its plumage is of a most delicate white, excepting the back and the tops
of its wings, which are grey: they lay but one egg, on the ground, where
they form a kind of nest, by scraping the earth round it. After the
young one is hatched, it has to remain a year before it can fly; it is
entirely white, and covered with a woolly down, which is very beautiful.
As we approached them, they clapped their beaks, with a very quick
motion, which made a great noise. This, and throwing up the contents of
the stomach, are the only means of offence and defence they seem to
possess. The old ones, which are valuable on account of their feathers,
my companions made dreadful havoc amongst, knocking on the head all they
could come up with. These birds are very helpless on the land, the
great length of their wings precluding them from rising up into the air,
unless they can get to a steep declivity. On the level ground they were
completely at our mercy, but very little was shewn them; and in a very
short space of time the plain was strewn with their bodies, one blow on