across
two barrels, beside which she had raised a powerful blazing flambeau.
Here she opened and dispensed fresh bivalves. And _such_ oysters we have
rarely seen; they were in their prime, large, full, and perfect in
flavor. Blue Points could not excel them. It seems that oysters are a
specialty here, whence they are shipped in large quantities to Tasmania
and Australia. It was a weird and curious picture presented by the group
on the pier,--the blazing, flickering flambeau casting flashes upon the
many faces, and all surrounded by deep shadows and darkness. Among the
spectators of the ship's arrival who had come to the pier were a score
of half-breeds,--Maori girls and men, laughing and chattering like
monkeys. A night's sleep, a quiet night in harbor and on board ship, was
a needful process of recuperation after the experience of the previous
one on a raging sea, and we rose wonderfully refreshed the next morning.
At breakfast we were regaled with New Zealand oysters and fresh fish.

The Bluff--also known as Campbelltown--is located in the very track of
storms, and is open to the entire sweep of the great Antarctic Ocean.
Its shelving side, sloping toward the harbor, forms a sort of lee,--a
sheltered position which is occupied by a pretty little fishing village
of some sixty houses, with a population of less than a thousand. These
people gain their living mostly from the neighboring sea, and from such
labor as is consequent upon the occasional arrival of steamships on
their way to the north. Here we took refreshment at the Golden Age
Hotel,--a primitive little inn, quaint to the last degree, its
reception-room ornamented with many species of stuffed birds, mostly
sea-fowls, among which was a preserved specimen of the albatross even
larger than the one whose dimensions we have already given. There was a
well-preserved seal hanging from a hook in the wall; also a sword-fish,
and a young shark of the man-eating species. On one side of this room
was a glass case of curious shells, large and small; and on the opposite
side was an open bar presided over by a ruby-nosed Bardolph.

The Golden Age is noticeable as being the most _southerly_ public house
of entertainment in the world. Twelve months previous, being exactly one
year to a day, we had partaken, at Hammerfest, in Norway, of the
hospitality of the most _northerly_ hotel on the globe. When this
coincidence was casually mentioned to the host of the Golden Age, he
woul