s as
though they are the same.

"The gannets and terns were quite extraordinary, like all the living
things there. If you stay still enough the terns perch on your head. In
any case they will not fly off the rocks till you are two or three feet
away. Several gannets were caught in the men's hands. All the fish which
the biologist collected to-day can travel quite fast on land. When the
Discovery was here Wilson saw a fish come out of the sea, seize a land
crab about eighteen inches away and take it back into the water.

"The land crabs were all over the place in thousands; it seems probable
that their chief enemies are themselves. They are regular cannibals.

"Then we did a real long climb northwards, over rocks and tufty grass
till 1.30 P.M. From the point we had reached we could see both sides of
the island, and the little Martin Vas islands in the distance.

"We found lots of little tern and terns' eggs, lying out on the bare rock
with no nest at all. Hooper also brought us two little gannets--all
fluffy, but even at this age larger than a rook. As we got further up we
began to come across the fossilized trees for which the island is well
known.

"Four or five Captain biscuits made an excellent lunch, and afterwards we
started to the real top of the island, a hill rising to the west of us.
It was covered with a high scrubby bush and rocks, and was quite thick;
in fact there was more vegetation here than on all the rest we had seen,
and in making our way through it we had to keep calling in order to keep
touch with one another.

"The tree ferns were numerous, but stunted. The gannets were sleeping on
the tops of the bushes, and some of the crabs had climbed up the bushes
and were sunning themselves on the top. These crabs were round us in
thousands--I counted seven watching me out of one crack between two
rocks.

"We sat down under the lee of the summit, and thought it would not be bad
to be thrown away on a desert island, little thinking how near we were to
being stranded, for a time at any rate.

"The crabs gathered round us in a circle, with their eyes turning towards
us--as if they were waiting for us to die to come and eat us. One big
fellow left his place in the circle and waddled up to my feet and
examined my boots. First with one claw and then with the other he took a
taste of my boot. He went away obviously disgusted: one could almost see
him shake his head.

"We collected, as well as our birds and