Also there was the cask of rum, which the men had moved into their own hut.

But that was not all, for there were plenty of shellfish about if they could find means to cook them, while the rocks around were covered with hundreds of penguins, including specimens of the great "King penguin," which only required to be knocked on the head.
There was, therefore, little fear of their perishing of starvation, as sometimes happens to ship wrecked people.

Indeed, immediately after dinner, the two sailors went out and returned with as many birds' eggs--mostly penguin--as they could carry in their hats.

Scarcely had they got in, however, when the rain, which is the prevailing characteristic of these latitudes, set in, in the most pitiless fashion; and soon the great mountains with which they were surrounded, and those before them, were wrapped in dense veils of fleecy vapour.

Hour after hour the rain fell without ceasing, penetrating through their miserable roof, and falling--drop, drip, drop--upon the sodden floor.