fishing; but it came on to rain, and he was obliged to return without catching any. We have found a root, which is very abundant all over the island, and it is very good food; it makes a very good substitute for bread and potatoes. There is also a great deal of sugar in it. We intend to make sugar from it. We have also found a method of curing the seal skins without salt. This is by stretching them and fledging them clean, and rubbing them well with strong lye (made from ashes) two or three times a day, until they are perfectly dry; then scour them well with sandstone, take them down, roll them up tight, and beat them on something solid with a smooth piece of wood until they are quite soft. This does not injure the fur, and they remain quite soft. We shall be able to make either blankets or clothes of them. I sleep on one of them now, and it is very comfortable.
Amongst the birds with which the woods abound, there are three kinds of songsters. Some of them are so tame that they come and feed out of our hands, and come into the house and remain there for hours. They also fly to the house in flocks when the hawks are after them. We shoot all hawks that come near. We have killed five, and this encourages the small birds to come near. On Thursday it blew fresh from the eastward, with 24 hours' heavy rain. During the remainder of the week the wind has been westerly, until last night; and to-day S.S.W. Barometer 29⋅50; thermometer 40°.
Sunday, March 6, 1864.—The first part of the past week was very fine, and we got on tolerably well with the thatching, and got more grass; but since Wednesday we have had continual drizzling rain, with light westerly winds, until midnight last night, when it came on to blow a very heavy gale, and continued ever since, with frequent showers. On Thursday I went across to Figure-of-Eight Island (as I have named it from its shape), and I discovered a reef of rocks which are dry at low water. They bear about S.W. from the N.W. end of the island, and the centre
