210 



THREE DAYS IN THE FAT-KLAND ISLANDS, 



not a vestige of a bush or tree on which the eye could rest to break the 

 wearisome monotony. However our stay is to be very short, and it is neces- 

 sary to make the most of our time, and as three of my fellow-voyagers 

 have agreed to accompany me on an expedition into the interior of the 

 island, we hasten on shore to make the necessary preparations. 



Having secured horses and the services of a Guacho as guide, we start 

 early the following morning to ride across the country to Port I^ouis, 

 situated on Berkeley Sound, where the original settlement was founded. 

 We are provided with guns and a plentiful supply of ammunition, for we 

 have been told that the country abounds with rabbits and wild -fowl. We 

 have been so long cooped up on board ship, that it is quite delightful to 

 find ourselves once more in the saddle, and galloping across the plain. 

 After riding two or three miles to the head of the bay, we struck across 

 the hills into the interior. 



The first fifteen miles of our journey was by no means pleasant riding. 

 The country^ or camp, as the Falklanders term it, consisted of a succession 

 of bogs and morasses; the horses sinking over the fetlocks at every step, 

 and several times we narrowly escaped getting bogged. After struggling 

 and wading through this miserable country for a couple of hours, we as- 

 cended a steep hill, which is, I believe, the highest in East Falkland, 

 from whence we had a splendid view of the entrance and harbour of 

 Port Louis. We coasted round the shores of the bay for several miles, 

 and late in the evening, tired and wearied, reached the settlement where 

 we were to pass the night. 



Port Louis consists of only two houses, built of stone (unhewn) in a sub- 

 stantial manner, but only one of them is inhabited. At a short distance 

 stands the ruins of an old fort, with a few dismantled cannon, half buried 

 in the ground, and the remains of some houses, which had been destroyed 

 during the early years of the colony by an American brig of war, in re- 

 taliation for an alleged injury perpetrated upon some American whalers. 



This district is in the possession of the original Falkland Island Com- 

 pany, who own about two hundred and fifty sheep, and large herds of cattle 

 and horses. About one-half of the sheep are pure bred South-downs, and 

 the rest a cross between that breed and the coarse Monte Videan sheep. 

 They were all in excellent condition, and the shepherd assured us they 

 throve as well here as in the ''Old country." 



The common grass of the country is coarse and wiry, but there are 

 many herbs of a fattening quality. We saw a little white clover growing 

 round the settlements, which seemed to thrive pretty well; the chief de- 

 pendence, however, is upon a long sedgy grass of the genus Carex. The 

 Tussac, of which the cattle are extremely fond, and which is stated to be 

 very nutritious, is becoming scarce upon various parts of the island, having 



