The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1884-01-11
HUNTING SEA ELEPHANTS.
a Mans Strange Three Years' Life OIL
Lonely Island.

hunting sea elephants. gives repor"
ter the following account of his ad-
ventures: "The fisheries there are Of
two general kinds--sea elephant and
fur seals. The elephants took about
all our time, got into it first by ac-
cident. shipped on bark for Cape
Town, left her there on account of -
difference betwixt me and the mate,
and being broke. l shipped again in
what they called sealer for three
years cruise ! didn't know any
thing about it. and after about a
months cruising to the south ard they
put 1--WE of us ashore in place called
Heard Island, about the most forsak-
en- place you can think of, and after
leaving us provisions, such as they
We're, the schooner sailed, and that
was the last W. saw Of her for two
years and six months. During that
time three of the men died. Heard
island Is rocky island in about the
same latitude as the Straits of Ma
gellan, about twenty-five miles long
and five or six wide, and from the
landing about all you could see was
mountains and glaciers. Six of the
latter can be seen from Whiskey Bay,
pouring down from big mountain
called Big Ben, about 1000 feet high.
Some of the glaciers breast the sea
with a front several hundred feet
high, and every once in q while they
break off with a crash that you could
hear five miles away. In fact, there
was nothing but ice, and where
the rock was clear there was nothing
growing to speak of. The only way
to make house was to dig hole in
the ground and cover it over with
canvas, and in winter we nearly froze.
All the streams froze up, and the
ground was covered with snow; the
only water we had was that melted.
"About the curiouseSt thing is that
when we have cold weather here, say
December, it's in the middle Of sum-
mer there. July is the coolest month,
but the place is in regular gale, you
might say, the year around, and only
about once a week is there chance
to get ashore during the year. On
the shore were trees, at least trees in
ahann iua. ne notnrai q life hnt made
out of solid rock. No, they want
petrifed, but were big rocks that had
come down in the glacier from above,
and been cut by the blowing sand into
all sorts Of shapes, and changing all
the time. Above was big plain,
with bones streWn around, enough to
make nervous man wish he was
home. There were thousands Of
them sea leopards, sea lions, and
great whale bones, US if all the ami
mails had been dragged there; and the
strangest part Of it was that although
they were not near the beach, they
were arranged in great layers, as if
the tide had washed them up--a curl.
GUS sight, l can tell you.
The seal fisheries didn't amount to
much, and most Of the time was spent
in killing sea elephants, and rough
work it was. The animals had been
hunted so muth that they only came
ashore on one part Of the island called
Long Beach, and where there was a
heavy sea breaking all the time; so the
only way to do was to drive the ami
mails off shore and keep them off, so
that they would come ashore in other
places where they could be killed. The
long beach was covered with thou
sands of elephants in regular herds,
like cattle, about fifty to lot, and
each under the head of a big male
called the beach master. Our busi-
ness was to take long seal-skin whips,
sail into the herds, and drive them off,
which was no fool of job. We walk
ed along about an eighth of mile
apart, and had some close scrapes
sometimes. Some of the beach mas
ters were thirty feet long, and weigh
ed three tons. They didn't seem to
know what fear meant, and you could
walk right among them, and give them
the whip right and left, and then the
roaring and Topping commenced.
Fight? should say so. There was a
'Portug' with our gang that was about
as reckless chap as l ever see. He'd
rush into a crowd and run right up on
the back of a big fellow and lather 1t
with his whip for minute, and then
slide off. One day he did this when
we were in crowd of big ones, His
foot slipped, and he slid right over the
critters shoulders, and the next min
ute the bull had him. He had on a
thick canvas shirt and overhauls, and
by the slack of the latter the bull
grabbed him and tossed him six foot
in the air. his whip going one way and
he the other. He landed in the sand
all right.
"But the worst fights | saw were
between the bulls themselves. If a
young bull got into herd by mistake,