elf from
him: At other times we had many battles with them, and it has sometimes
afforded a dozen of us an hour's work to dispatch one of them: I had
with me a very fine mastiff dog, and a bite of one of these creatures
almost tore him to pieces. Nor were these the only dangerous animals
that we found here, for the master having been sent out one day to sound
the coast upon the south shore, reported, at his return, that four
creatures of great fierceness, resembling wolves, ran up to their
bellies in the water to attack the people in his boat, and that as they
happened to have no fire-arms with them, they had immediately put the
boat off into deep water. The next morning after this happened, I went
upon the southern shore myself, where we found one of the largest
sea-lions I had ever seen: As the boat's crew were now well armed, they
immediately engaged him, and during the contest one of the other animals
was seen running towards us: He was tired out before he came up, and was
presently killed, though I afterwards wished that we had endeavoured to
take him alive, which, if we had been aware of his attack, I daresay
might easily have been done. When any of these creatures got sight of
our people, though at ever so great a distance, they ran directly at
them; and no less than five of them were killed this day. They were
always called wolves by the ship's company, but, except in their size,
and the shape of the tail, I think they bore a greater resemblance to a
fox. They are as big as a middle-sized mastiff, and their fangs are
remarkably long and sharp. There are great numbers of them upon this
coast, though it is not perhaps easy to guess how they first came
hither, for these islands are at least one hundred leagues distant from
the main: They burrow in the ground like a fox, and we have frequently
seen pieces of seal which they have mangled, and the skins of penguins,
lie scattered about the mouth of their holes. To get rid of these
creatures, our people set fire to the grass, so that the country was in
a blaze as far as the eye could reach, for several days, and we could
see them running in great numbers to seek other quarters. I dug holes in
many places, about two feet deep, to examine the soil, which I found
first a black mold, and then a light clay. While we lay here, we set up
the armourer's forge on shore, and completed a great deal of iron-work
that was much wanted. Our people had every morning an excellent
breakf