We had hopes, too, of finding penguins. Our
expectation as far as the sea-elephants were concerned was not at
fault. We heard the roar of the bulls as we neared the head of the
bay, and soon afterwards saw the great unwieldy forms of the beasts
lying on a shelving beach towards the bay-head. We rounded a high,
glacier-worn bluff on the north side, and at 12.30 p.m. we ran the boat
ashore on a low beach of sand and pebbles, with tussock growing above
high-water mark. There were hundreds of sea-elephants lying about, and
our anxieties with regard to food disappeared. Meat and blubber enough
to feed our party for years was in sight. Our landing-place was about
a mile and a half west of the north-east corner of the bay. Just east
of us was a glacier-snout ending on the beach but giving a passage
towards the head of the bay, except at high water or when a very heavy
surf was running. A cold, drizzling rain had begun to fall, and we
provided ourselves with shelter as quickly as possible. We hauled the
'James Caird' up above highwater mark and turned her over just to the
lee or east side of the bluff. The spot was separated from the
mountain-side by a low morainic bank, rising twenty or thirty feet
above sea-level. Soon we had converted the boat into a very comfortable
cabin ? la Peggotty, turfing it round with tussocks, which we dug up
with knives.
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