Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-08-14
A Day on Shore. No. q.

| The Comics" (albatross) and marie
mokes 2lided in and out the dense fog
| like uneasy spirits. The penguins
| cruising off shore for food, uttered
their dismal ''Waunk' and disappeared
| where fog and water blended-the sun
| melted the mists- worked its way to
us from overhead through the over
hanging pall-the breeze swept away
the last vcstige of gloom-the blue sky
| kissed the gray waters and the little
under our lee, seemingly at the mercy
OF the choppN sea
| Thousands, yes, tens of thousands Of
penguins, lined up like soldiers for in
srection, dotted the brown background
with their snow white breasts, looking
from distance as if some ambitious
painter had borrowed his EMPLOYERS
time to ornament the dark cliffs with
srots of white a foot or two apart.
We lowered a boat and pulled
through the narrow entrance into as
snug harbor as the world can pro-
duce-perhaps an eighth of mile in
diametcr-but of no use whatever to
those that so down in ships, because of
It's very shoal passaSeWay through
which only small boats could come
and of its very deep water inside In
fact 1t is stated that no bottom has
ever been reached in the center Of the
basin by any of the common sound
ing apparatus in use on board the
average whaleship. The island is of
vol f,,-i.-
Ing more or less than an extinct crater
filled to tha brim with water
We found seventeen fishermen from
the Mauritius or Isle of France here
catching yellow tails" very fat and
finely favored fish of four to eight
pounds weight, which were cured by
drying in the sun. then sent home by
a brig that came regularly where they
sold readily for twenty-five cents
pound. The crew called themselves
Frcnchmen and that was the language
they murdered To Il greater degree Of
inperfcction than | ever heard be
fore. They had ali lived in the Isle If
France but were natives of MadaSas-
car with one or two exceptions. the
boss being from France. but SO tar
rishcd by exposure that his purity of
race was not visible On the outside
"A rude hut served as a partial shell
ter from the heavy dew. Their cloth
ing was not numerous enough to men
ton, shoes especially they had no use
for and not pair was there among
the whole crowd. a cow brought from
Mauritius, a calf that boosted ST Paul
as its birth place and n bob-tailed
'purp of no nationality whatever,
composed the entire animal population
of this little production of uneasy
nature that had in a moment of for
getfuluess raised landmark in lati-
tude IS degrees ana As minutes south,
longitude Il degrees and is minutes
east from Greenwich
Little cabbages. diminutive turnips
and small. very small potatoes help
out the regular diet Of penguin eggs
and fish which are cooked in Z hot
spring that bubbles out of the sands
o: the beach at low tide. This spring
would cook an egg hard in from ter
90 fifteen minutes and We gathered
hundreds of them. cooked them and
tried to eat. but preferring our fish in
its original flavor, we gave it up
These people remain here from six
to eight months. then return to the
Isle of France to enjoy themselves I'M
der the shadows Of the cocoa palm.
munGhinG suSar-cane and rice. while
Saint Paul and the COW and calf are
deserted and left to shiver in the
storms of rain and snow that prevail
III that part of the Indian ocean dur
ing the months of June, July and
August.
J\V JrL>L- J,J1IN