of Africa--for it is, I believe, no longer a
denizen of that region--was that which is known to naturalists as
_Arctocephalus delalandii_, and, as adult males sometimes attain eight
and a half feet in length, it may well be described as of the size of a
bear. Cubs from six to eight months of age measure about two feet and a
half in length.[4] The Portuguese caught anchovies in the bay, which
they salted to serve as provisions on the voyage. They anchored a second
time in the Angra de Sao Bras in March, 1499, on their homeward voyage.

Yet one more allusion to the penguins and seals of the Angra de Sao
Bras is of sufficient historical interest to be mentioned. The first
Dutch expedition to Bantam weighed anchor on the 2nd of April, 1595, and
on the 4th of August of the same year the vessels anchored in a harbour
called 'Ague Sambras,' in eight or nine fathoms of water, on a sandy
bottom. So many of the sailors were sick with scurvy--'thirty or
thirty-three,' says the narrator, 'in one ship'--that it was necessary
to find fresh fruit for them. 'In this bay,' runs the English
translation of the narrative, 'lieth a small Island wherein are many
birds called Pyncuins and sea Wolves, that are taken with men's hands.'
In the original Dutch narrative by Willem Lodewyckszoon, published in
Amsterdam in 1597, the name of the birds appears as 'Pinguijns.'

[2] _Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama_. 2da edicao. Lisboa, 1861.
Pp. 14 and 105.
[3] Moseley, _Notes by a Naturalist on the 'Challenger,'_ p. 155.
[4] _Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum_, by J. E.
Gray. 2nd ed., p. 53.

THE BANDA ISLANDS AND THE BANDAN BIRDS

The islands of the Banda Sea, with the exception of Letti, Kisser, and
Wetter, constitute the Ceram sub-group or the Moluccan group; the
principal units are Buru, Amboyna, Great Banda, Ceram, Ceram Laut,
Goram, Kur, Babar, and Dama. The Matabela Islands, the Tiandu Islands,
the Ke Islands, and the Tenimber Islands also belong to the Ceram
sub-group. We are only concerned with the Banda Islands, which are eight
in number, and consist of four central islands in close proximity to one
another, inclosing a little inland sea, and four outlying islets. The
central islands are Lonthoir, or Great Banda, Banda Neira, Gounong Api,
which is an active volcano, and Pisang. The remaining Banda Islands are
Rozengain, which lies about ten miles distant to the south-east of Great
Banda; Wa