The sun., 1894-10-21

srests 1000 feet high were white, and on the
sides Of the mountain the drifts and blotches Of
snow sometimes reached down 10 within 500 or
600 feet Of the surf. still, there was compara-
lively little snow below an altitude OF 1000 feet
and not much bare ground above that limit,
At distance Of hve OF six miles the colors Of
the uncovered parts OF the mountains wers dark
erays and black The rocks looked very like the
rocky declivities one may see all along the Hud-
sou, though in no other respect was the scenery
like that on the Hudson. A closer view Of the
island showed that the darkest shades Of the
mountain sides were green rather than black,
and were due TO wide masses Of vegetation,
among which tree trunks could be dlstine euishei
with glass. But there was no sign Of animal
life ashore.
Over the sea, however, as we steamed along,
the air fairly teemed with antarctic life. Ducks
in hocks half mile long drifted and sailed
hither and yon The little Cape Horn pigeons,
whose black backs and wings are most beauti-
fully mottled with white, noated in scores and
hundreds in the air about the ship. sometimes
30 closely that one could almost touch them with
the hand. The huge white albatross with its
ten-foot spread of wings, careened up and down
and around. as II for the pure love Of the mo-
tion, while coal black gulls-the web-footed
ravens Of the sea-contested with their light
colored cousins for the refuse thrown from the
ship. Then there were the penguins. Once, as
we steamed along. we ran into a flock Of them,
and sent them diving from wave TO wave-in on
one side and out on the other-in n way that
at first sight made the spectators think
that they were school Of fish, short and
thick, black on top, and with white stripe on
the side, skurrying away for life. Even now,
as think of them, I am haunted with doubt
as TO whether, after all, when thought saw
webbed feet and long, outstretched neck, was
not mistaken, so great was the resemblance OF
the fleeing penguin TO . fish. And then there
was tiny kind OF gull, the male of which
was almost pure white-a bird that seemed
little, II any, larger than robin. II was most
wary and most sprightly little fellow. and IL
almost always preferred diving TO flying. In
short, nowhere in the whole voyage of the
Ushuaia, of which the trip to st. John harbor
was but a small part. did 1 see bird life so
abundant, so varied, or so beautiful and inter-
esting as of the coast of Staten Island.
BY 10 o'clock in the morning we were plainly
approaching the barren, bold promontory that
faced the giant at the east end of the island
The gale of the night before had moderated con-
by that time, but tho nearer we ap-
preached the headland the more boisterous did
the sea seem to be before us. To the passengers
who did not know the place we seemed TO be rush.
ing into tide rip more dangerous than anything
we had seen, but just when we were preparing for
the tossing that appeared Inevitable, the frown-
ing coast line opened. A ford between the noun
tains was seen of the starboard bow, and
We ut once headed in for II. little
further on we could see that on rock jutting
out from the westerly side Of the ford was a
building of a shape thato aused me to take