a preparation of this handsome creature's
head. Its jaws were furnished with teeth as
strong as those of the large hyæna which I
stuffed at La Calle. In one word, it is the
jaw of a very large dog, with a predominance
of molars, in point of strength. The skin of
these animals is very handsome, being covered
with short, rough, iron-grey fur, and is used
for the covering of game-bags, and to make
tobacco-boxes with.

Whenever we coasted round the island in
our boat, the various wild creatures afforded
us a delightful spectacle, which I shall never
forget as long as I live. But everything just
then contributed to my thorough and complete
enjoyment of the trip. Surrounded by kind,
cheerful, and open-hearted friends; gently
rocked in a boat managed by joyous sailors;
free from all cares, either of yesterday or for
to-morrow; far away from any inhabited
country, and escaped from all worldly trouble;
how could I help indulging in a little
enthusiasm? With the splendid weather
which we constantly had at La Galite; with
capital refreshments always in our boat, and
pipes, pipes, for ever pipes; from time to
time jumping on shore, to gather limpets,
sea-urchins, or crabs, and adding these to our
store of sausages and cold meat; with a few
bottles of good wine which Baussand took
care to slip into the boat;—how admirably
we fared!

A shoal of porpoises and seals would come
and play around our boat, sometimes swimming
very close to it. They made prodigious
bounds out of the water, caracolling, hustling
each other, and playing all manner of pranks,
enough to make us die with laughing. I had
read of this sort of thing in books of voyages,
but had certainly formed no idea of the
reality. Some of these porpoises were more
than twenty feet long, and they leaped out of
the sea so as to display themselves at full
length. They spouted out the water, and
made it fall in graceful jets around them.—
And we fired!—But at every shot they dived,
very soon making their appearance again.
Seals and porpoises seemed to be laughing
at us, or doing us the honours of our excursion
round their island. Sometimes, at a
greater distance, the black fin of the fearful
shark would rise above the waves,
clearing them rapidly, and disappearing with
a nourish of his tail. And then, by way of a
change, we attacked the divers, the cormorants,
and a host of other seabirds, which were
perched on the boulders at the water's edge,
and which stupidly stared at us as we glided
past them.

I ought not to forget the cray-fish and
lampreys, which are excellent at La Galite;
so much so that the Bône fishermen come
here expressly to catch them. They were
excellently served by the cook of the vessel, in
spite of Baussand's infamous allitot or garlic
sauce. Altogether we fared sumptuously.
The Bobérach's cellar was very respectable.
The vin de Lamalque contrived to please us
all; but we found no fault with the other
wines, any more than with the cognac, the
rum, the gin, the bitters, the tea, the grog,
the Heaven knows what!

We took our meals beneath the grotto.
Mattrasses were brought there every day, and
in the evening, stretched upon these, we gaily
smoked our pipes, sipping hot wine or tea.
On these occasions we were sure to be
entertained by the most diabolical concert that ever
struck terror into human ear; and I am
thoroughly sure that all who then heard it
will no more be likely ever to forget it, than
I shall. It began at nightfall by the solitary
cry of a cormorant, rapidly responded to by
one, two, or more successive voices; and
immediately after all was dark, the cavern and
the rocks around it re-echoed with
intermingling cries of wailing, groaning, sighing,
sobbing, bursts of laughter, and plaintive
lamentations, all proceeding (we supposed)
from flocks of birds which we could not see,
but which hovered invisibly, like phantoms,
in the air. I might vainly heap comparisons
upon comparisons; it is impossible to convey
the slightest idea of the horrible effect of this
witch-like Sabbath. M. de Pérallo, Pergaut,
Baussand, and myself were never tired of
listening to it; and we confessed that had we
chanced to find ourselves without light and
alone in such a spot, it was enough to make
any one of us expire with fright. I must also
tell you, that we could not discover exactly
what to attribute it to. It was Pergaut's
idea that these unearthly sounds were caused
by night-birds that were either attracted by
the lights we burned, or were irritated by our
intrusion into the grotto which they were in
the habit of using as their roosting-place.
From whatever voices it really did proceed,
the mysterious music of the cavern made so
strong an impression upon my imagination,
that at this very moment while I am
describing it, after the lapse of several years,
I can fancy that I hear it still.

I had the satisfaction of obtaining a view of
Sardinia from the top of the principal peak of
La Galite. But without a strong determination,
and legs like those Pergaut was furnished
with, it is quite out of the question to reach
the summit. You are obliged at every instant
to cling to the rocks, in order to proceed from
one point to another, sometimes suspended an
awful height above the abyss below. It
requires strong nerves to avoid being giddy
when you look down, and see the lovely blue
sea spread out at an immense distance beneath
you. Here and there some graceful herds of
goats were bounding from rock to rock,
mostly far out of gun-shot, climbing spurs of
the peak which to my eyes looked almost
perpendicular: From time to time, also, some
rabbit of the wilderness, completely taken
by surprise, would put out his nose; but
shooting was a difficult matter on such a
labyrinthine pyramid of stone as this. Towards