The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-02-10
SEA ELEPHANT HUNTER,
Adventures In KsfSusien's Land, At the
End fthe world.
(Nsw York SUM-

A iittls man with Q red face and faded
out hair, with hands deep In his pockets.
roams about one Of the resorts In south
srn California, and be would attract iit-
tie or no attention except BY particular
~ jolly smile which ripplss over his
weather worn face on the very slightsst
provoostion. The writer found him one
evening Mt the snd Of the long pier look
ing out on the water with . oontempla.
tive expression, and, rsmarking upon the
beauty Of the night, the little man re-
piled, eyes. this 10 paradise TO me-"
with o curious infection which was
rather puzzling until 1t was known that
his mother was Swede and his father an
Irishman.
show soi Why" he continued. smiling
tho soft evening air that came In from
the little bay, 'bscause the best part Of
my life spent at the end Of the world.
right where they jump of. at Inscoes-
sible Island, down ON the edge Of the An
tarctic Ocean; there and at kerguelsn's
Land. was q sea elephant hunter. and
I'm 30 glad to be In suoh o country %
this after all my rovings that IL seems
like q regular paradise. never believed
that would take up with such q iifs.
but men are curious things, and one DAY
when my ship made port at the Cape Of
Good Hope, ] left her-no matter how
ana shipped on hoard a whalsr. They
told me would come baok ct tho end Of
. year with perhaps ~ 0o0, and as that
heat $50 n month shipped.
"Tbsss seal elephant islands are In
sieet all the time" continued the former
sea elephant hunter, settling himself
comfortably ~ though for long talk.
land where I spent two years was the
most desolAts place ever saw. The
men there told me that sometimes the
sealers died Of the horrors or went crazy.
and could we'll believe them. 1t was Q
covered with snow-capped mountains and
glaciers; and the only sounds We heard
were the roaring Of the wind and the
crash Of icebergs as they broke of and
drifted away. When We pulled into the
harbor and the sealers came aboard l
wondered how men could get 90 low In
looks; but was just as bad In . short
time; you ooul int help 1t. The only
house, II you could call IL that, was o
hole In the ground, rooted over with
wreokage, and timbsr6 that had washed
ashore, ana In which the men had piled
big rocks 10 prevent the roof from blow
ing away and TO protect IL from being
crushed by the Toe and snow which In
| the form Of avalanohes sometimes came
rushing down from the mountains. In
| this hut there WAS nothing but table
and some seats. The men hunked ON the
| floor on skins Of the sen lion and feathers
| OF the penguin. Everything was covered
18th oil and gresse.
"After leaving load OF stores tire
| steamer sailed away and We did not see
her again for q year. The stores did not
| last very long, and then we settled down
| Co what was q regular diet-gulls and
penguin and the meat OF the ses elephant.
l knew that had been trapped, but
| had the senss to say nothing about 1t as
the schooner had sailed and had signed
for two years. The nsxt day the life be-
gan. Raining or showing, We were Al
ways routed ont early In the morning.
The second or third day wa, sent by
the toss to kill some penguins for break
fast. and nearly lost my life In the
hunt. great part of tbs island seemed
| to be covered with these birds; they were
so thick that 1t was hard to force your
way through them "a they pecked at you
viciously on oil sides. The penguin
rookery was In q big mass OF tussock
grass that grew almost ss high as my
head, and the birds had laid 1t out In
streets and lanes, and along them and
In them they stood In groups and droves.
The streets were slippery and UNDERMINED
| by other birds, and every few steps
broke through into these cellars and was
also attacked by the birds that came out
"To protect myself laid around with
the club carried, and finally turned and
tried to run out Of the place as the birds
came at me thicker and faster and near
| ly orazed me- with their pecking and the
| noise they made. l was bewildered, and
only by chance found my way out OF the
bird city iato which had gone further
than fret intended. thinking to see how
camp, covered with blood, with my arms
full of birds, the men met me with a
rear, and saw that joke had been put
upon me. found later that they never
entered the bird city, hut killed the birds
about and on the edge.
elephants was the game. We were sup
posed to catch big animals. the males De.
| ing from fifteen to nearly thirty feet
long aud weighing several tons. AT one
time, fifty or sixty years ago. they fairly
covered the beaches, but they had been
| klIleu OH 30 tudb tHcy WoAO va
| fined to one part OF the beach on side
that could not be approached BY sea. 20
| We had to travel ovsr the glaciers and
mountains, railing our barrels " hen
near the divide We could look down on
| the elephants that looked Ike great black
slues on the white sand. We crossed
down without Tightening them, gettingt
| between them and the water. Then q
the word from the b ofs we made a rush
| on them. When they saw US they slowly
lifted up their heads. initiating their curi-
GUS trunKs that made them look like els-
plants. Ciumsily they tried to reach the
water, but q sharp blow over the head
laid them ont. Once one caught a man
| by the coat and tossed him Into the
herd, where We thought he would be torn
| to pieces. as he fell on the back Of an old
bull. but he escaped after having the
clothes literally torn OF him. Sometimes
forty or nifty Of the animals would be
killed In an hour; then the work OF
skinning them began, and the boiling
down. / WIS soon reeking In oil and That
was the condition Of US all the time.
he nnnrza If tina WAR Il nAv0r saw