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.