The slices of beef were speedily cut, therefore, and strung on over our shoulders, and, like two young Robinson Crusoes, we set off in the hopes of soon relieving our anxiety about our friends.  Nothing could be more melancholy than the appearance of the country through which we passed-- cinders and blackness on every side.  Every now and then we nearly tumbled into a glowing heap of bog balsam.  It was sad, too, to see the number of nests, some with eggs in them, and others with young birds completely roasted; indeed, we passed many old birds burned to cinders. At last we struck the shore; but the face of nature had been so completely altered by the fire, that we were uncertain whether it was to the north or south of the creek at which we had landed.  At last we agreed that we were to the south of the spot we wished to reach, so we stood along the beach to the north.  We had not got far before we saw, a little way inland, where the grass had been, two black masses.  We grasped each other's arms.  Were they the figures of men?  Trembling with fear we hurried towards them.  Though burned to cinders, still we had no difficulty in recognising them as two seals.  The poor things, stupified and astonished by the fire, had probably had no time to waddle into the water before it had overtaken them.  Perhaps seals, like fish, are attracted by fire, and the foolish animals had thought it a fine sight to behold.  We had taken no breakfast, and were beginning to feel the want of food, but, at the same time, we were so thirsty that we did not feel as if we could eat.  There was plenty of salt water; but that was not tempting, and would only have increased our suffering.  Jerry sat himself down on the beach and said he could go no further; but I urged him to continue on, in the hopes that we might come soon upon a stream of water.  I remember even then being struck by the immense quantities of kelp which fringed the shore.  The long leaves and roots, where left by the tide, looked like pieces of thick brown leather; and we agreed that cups and bowls, and all sorts of things, might be made out of it.  Kelp is a species of sea-weed of gigantic size, and its sturdy stems have been known to reach the surface from a depth of nearly three hundred feet; some of the wide-spreading weeds looking like tanned hides extended on the surface.  Its roots cling with a powerful gripe to the rocks, on which alone it grows.  Some of the stems are sufficiently strong to moor a boat with.  I had a knife, the handle of which was made by simply sticking the hilt of the blade into a piece of the root while it was wet;--when the kelp dried the blade was firmly fixed in it.  We had not gone far when a rippling sound saluted our ears; and running on, we found a bright, sparkling stream gurgling out of the bank.  We put our mouths down to the spot where it gushed out, and oh, how we enjoyed the cool pure draught!  Nothing could then have been more gratifying to our taste.  We found this gave a remarkably keen edge to our appetites; so we sat down by the stream and produced a piece of the steak we had cooked the previous evening, and the remains of our biscuit.  While discussing them, Jerry exclaimed that he saw something galloping along the shore.