MR. STANLEY. "Well, George, are you like the serpent? Have you had enough of the water?"
GEORGE. "Oh! no! I shall be very sorry when the voyages are over."
MR. STANLEY. "You have been on the ocean a weary while. Have you, like Sir James Ross, reached either of the Poles?"
GEORGE. "No, sir; but we have been very near the North Pole; have we not, Charles?"
CHARLES. "Yes; in the Arctic Ocean we have been as high as 80° parallel of north latitude to Spitzbergen; and in the Antarctic as high as the 66° parallel of south latitude, to the New South Shetland Isles."
MR. STANLEY. "Well done! You will not then start any objections on the score of cold, to accompany me to Kerguelan's Land?"
"Oh dear, no!" exclaimed the boys. "We do not mind the cold."
MR. STANLEY. "Kerguelan's land was discovered in 1772 by Monsieur de Kerguelan, a French navigator, who took it for a continent, and so reported it to his government. He was sent back the following year to make critical examination. Three years after this, Captain Cook fell in with the island, and, not finding it of any importance, called it Isle of Desolation. But, despite its name, it is not a bad place by any means. It is a safe and commodious harbor, and abundance of fresh water. However, considering its latitude, it is exceedingly bare of vegetation; and there is only one plant which claims attention, that is the famous cabbage discovered by Captain Cook. For 130 days his crew enjoyed the luxury of fresh vegetables, which were served out with their salt beef and pork, and prevented sickness among them."
GEORGE. "Are there any animals on the island?"
MR. BARRAUD. "Numbers of birds; penguins, albatrosses, gulls, ducks, cormorants, &c.; and the island is the resort of seals and sea-elephants."
CHARLES. "It cannot be a very pretty place?"
MR. STANLEY. "Here is an idea of it. The whole island appears to be deeply indented by bays and inlets, the surface intersected by numerous small lakes and water-courses. These becoming swollen by the heavy rains, which alternate with the frost and snow, accompanied by violent gusts of wind, rush down the sides of the mountains and along the ravines in countless impetuous torrents, forming in many places beautiful foaming cascades, wearing away the rocks, and strewing the valleys below with vast fragments."