The Boat Came
Back On The 5th With The General's Answer, Saying, That He Was Not Sure
Of Having Enough Of Biscuit For His Own Men, Neither Knew He How Long He
Might Be At Sea, And Therefore Could Not Spare Any.
This answer
afflicted de Weert; and having now no hopes of being again rejoined by
de Cordes, he resolved to proceed for Penguin Island, to lay in a large
store of these birds, and then to follow the fleet of Van Noort, if the
wind proved fair.
Before sailing, he wrote a letter for de Cordes, which
he left buried at the foot of a tree, and nailed a board to the tree, on
which was painted, Look at the bottom of this tree.
On the 11th January, 1600, de Weert made sail for Penguin Islands, and
next day came to anchor under the smaller of these islands, where he
immediately landed with thirty-eight men in tolerable health, leaving
the pilots and other seamen on board. Leaving three men to keep the
boat, the rest fell to killing birds, of which there were a prodigious
quantity in the island. In the mean time the wind grew nigh and the sea
very stormy, by which the boat was thrown so high upon the rocks, and so
filled with water, that the boat-keepers were unable to get her off, or
to heave out the water, and so much tossed by the surges that they
expected every minute to have her stove to pieces. In this extremity the
seamen were almost in despair. Without the boat it was impossible for
them to return on board. They had no carpenters, no tools, and no wood,
with which to repair their boat, as there was no wood whatever on the
island. They were all wet, as they had waded into the water as high as
their shoulders to draw the boat from the rocks, and they were starving
with cold. Fortunately, at low water, the boat being aground, they
recovered an axe and some tools, with a few nails, which revived their
hopes of being able to get back to the ship. But as it was impossible to
get the boat drawn ashore before night for repairs, they were obliged to
pass the night on shore in the open air, where they made a fire of some
broken planks from the boat, and eat some birds half-roasted, without
bread, and with so little water that they could not quench their thirst.
As soon as day appeared on the 13th, every one went cheerfully to work,
in repairing that side of the boat which was most injured, which was
quite refitted before night. Next day the other side was repaired; and
having loaded her with 450 penguins, they went aboard on the evening of
the 14th, having been three days on shore. While they were catching
penguins on the 12th, they found a savage woman, who had hid herself in
one of the holes. At the time when Van Noort landed here, there was a
band of savages on the island, by whom two of his men were slain; in
revenge of which Van Noort had destroyed them all but this woman, who
was then wounded, and who now shewed her wounds to the seamen. She was
tall and well-made; her hair cut quite close to her head, and her face
painted, having a kind of cloak on her body, made of the skins of beasts
and birds, neatly sewed together, and reaching down to her knees,
besides which she had a skin apron; so that the savages on the north
side of these straits appear to be more modest in their apparel than
those on the south side. By the dead body of one of these savages, who
had been slain by Van Noort, it appeared that the men wore their hair
very long; besides which his head was ornamented with fine feathers, and
he had others round his body. They use bows and arrows, the arrows being
very neatly pointed with hard flints. De Weert gave this woman a knife,
who informed him by signs, that he would find a greater plenty of birds
in the larger island. They left her where she was, though she requested,
by signs, to be transported to the continent. They now went to the
larger island, in order to get a larger supply of birds.
The old penguins weigh from twelve to sixteen pounds, and the young ones
from eight to twelve. They are black on the back, with white bellies,
and some have a white ring round their necks, so that they are almost
half white half black. Their skin is much like that of a seal, and as
thick as the skin of a wild boar. The bill is as long as that of a
raven, but not so crooked; the neck short and thick, and the body as
long as that of a goose, but not so thick. Instead of wings, they have
only two fins or pinions, covered with feathers, which hang down as they
walk upright, and by means of which they swim with great strength. They
have black feet, like those of a goose, and they walk upright, with
their fins or pinions hanging down like the arms of a man, so that when
seen at a distance they look like so many pigmies. They seldom come
ashore except in the breeding season, and then they nestle together,
three or four in one hole, which they dig in the downs as deep as those
of rabbits, and the ground is so full of them, that one is liable almost
at every step to sink into them up to the knees. They feed entirely on
fish, yet their flesh has not that rank fishy taste which is so common
in sea-fowl, but is extraordinarily well tasted. Penguin, the name of
this bird, is not derived from the Latin pinguedo, fatness, as the
Dutch author of this voyage would have it, and therefore spells the word
pinguin.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 61 of 221
Words from 61273 to 62292
of 224764