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Show \ GUNNISON'S ISLAND- BLIND PELICAN. 193 perienced in the management of boats, although perfectly competent to guide one over the calm and tranquil waters upon which we had put forth in the morning. All the tent- poles and cooking utensils were in the missing skiff; and as the night threatened to be cold and stormy, a temporary shelter from the weather was hastily erected with spare oars and some drift- wood, which, being covered with a couple of tents, proved a very tolerable substitute for our usually more comfortable quarters. In a ramble around the shores of the island, I came across a venerable- looking old pelican, very large and fat, which allowed me to approach him without attempting to escape. Surprised at his apparent tameness, we examined him more closely, and found that it was owing to his being perfectly blind; for he proved to be very pugnacious, snapping fiercely, but vaguely, on each side, in search of his enemies, whom he could hear, but could not see. As he was totally helpless, he must have subsisted on the charity of his neighbours, and his sleek and comfortable condition showed that, like beggars in more civilized communities, he had " fared sumptuously every day." The food of these birds consists entirely of fish, which they must necessarily obtain either from Bear River, from the Weber, the Jordan, or from the warm springs on the eastern side of Spring Valley, at all of which places they were observed fishing for food. The nearest of these points is more than thirty miles distant, making necessary a flight of at least sixty miles to procure and transport food for the sustenance of their young. Immense numbers of the young birds are huddled together in groups about the islands, under the charge of a grave- looking nurse or keeper, who, all the time that we were there, was relieved from guard at intervals, as regularly as a sentinel. The goslings are an awkward, ungainly mass of fat, covered with a fine and exceedingly thick, down of a light colour. The island, which is an irregular ridge of rock, protruded from beneath, consists of the same compact limestone as that observed at Flat Bock. Between the water and storm line, on the western beach, coarse and fine conglomerate or pudding- stone is found in broad laminae, very hard, and generally inclined to the slope of the beach. The layers, or slabs, are of various thickness, and would make excellent pavements. Saturday, June 1.- As the watering party was still absent, I took such force as remained on the island, to the summit of the high peak, to rebuild the station previously erected there, which, from 13 |
