124 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



interval. If these islands had been far beyond the track of commerce, as are all the other Antarctic sealing-grouuds, 

 save Juan Fernandez, then the remarkable, surprising want of data in this respect would not be so marked a feature 

 to the history of the subject. The Falkland islands have not only been a common port of entry and departure 

 for vessels of all nations since their discovery, in 1594, but as far back as 1770 they were a bone of contention and 

 long-sustained diplomatic overtures between Spain and Great Britain, which came very near to plunging both 

 countries into war on their sole account. I will recite the history of this disturbance, because its solution was the 

 direct result of our losing possession of Vancouver's island and all that British Columbian territory to-day south of 

 54° 40' north latitude — a fur-sealing quarrel at the outset originated the whole difficulty. 



Troubles here wnicn caused us the loss of Vancouver's island. — The piratical cruise of Sir Francis 

 Drake in 1577, followed by that of Thomas Candish, or Cavendish, and John Davies, in 1592, whereby the Spanish 

 settlements and galleons on the west coasts of the American continent were literally ravished, aroused the 

 Castilians to a sense of their future danger, and they began rather slowly to provide means of shelter and future 

 support. In prosecution of this plan for protecting the Spanish settlements and commerce of America, Francisco 

 Bucareli, the governor of Buenos Ayres, on the 10th of June, 1770, forcibly expelled the handful of British " sealers" 

 from their little establishment, Port Eginont, on the Falkland islands. As soon as the news of this expulsion 

 reached London, the English secretary of state, lord Weymouth, addressed, September 12, a demand to the court 

 at Madrid for the immediate disavowal, on its part, of the acts of Bucareli, and called for the prompt and 

 unconditional restitution of the islands in the condition which they were before the writs of removal were executed. 

 War was imminent, but Louis XV, of France, tendered his good offices as a mediator between the two disputants. 

 The Spanish government acceded to this and placed the entire settlement of the controversy in the hands of the 

 king of France, for his disposition as he should consider proper for the honor and rights of Spain. On the 22d of 

 January, 1771, the offers of the king of France were accepted by the court of St. James. On this day the Spanish 

 ambassador at London, Trince Masserano, presented to lord Eochford a declaration in the name of the king of 

 Spain, saying that his Catholic majesty, solely desirous of maintaining peace with England, disavowed the acts of 

 violence committed by the governor of Buenos Ayres, and engaged to restore to his Britannic majesty and his 

 subjects "the port and fort at Eginont, in the Falkland islands, with all the artillery, stores, and effects, precisely" 

 as they were before the 10th of June, 1770; at the same time, however, this offer of restitution contained the 

 following significant clause : " this contract cannot, nor will it in any way, affect the question of prior right of 

 sovereignty to the Falkland islands." 



The treaty of Nootka influenced here. — The expelled Falkland islanders were then replaced at port 

 Eginont; but, in 1774, they were abruptly withdrawn by order of their own government, and these islands were 

 again taken possession of by the Spaniards, who retained their hold until South America became independent. 

 This abandonment of Great Britain provoked the bitterest political debates in Parliament, and feeling ran high all 

 over that country; deeply imbued with this sentiment, Vancouver went out, in 1791, specially charged by the 

 English government to take possession of the British territory on the northwest coast, according to the articles of the 

 treaty of 1790 between Spain and England, and came to that region in the following year. The Spaniards claimed 

 Vancouver's island then, in their own right, and in behalf of the Americans, captains Gray and Kendrick; their 

 agent, Senor Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, was stationed at Nootka sound; and immediately after 

 Vancouver's arrival, August 12, 1792, the negotiations were commenced, but Quadra could do nothing in behalf of 

 their rights and those of American discovery. Vancouver peremptorily refused to entertain the subject. Quadra 

 therefore surrendered "Quadra and Vancouver's island" to him, under protest, and withdrew every sign of Spanish 

 authority from these waters of the North Pacific. •*" 



Thus the disturbances which arose over the abandonment of the Falkland islands in 1774, worked the loss of 

 that northwest territory to us, through Spain, in 1792. My only regret (after an extended personal residence on 

 Vancouver's island), concerning this whole subject, is that, out of all the uproar at the Falklands, nothing definite 

 has been placed on record relative to the numbers and disposition of the fur-seal thereon. 



25. CATALOGUE OF THE MAMMALS OF THE PEIBTLOV GROUP. 



[Memoranda of collections made by Henry W. Elliott: Pribylov Islands: 1872 to 187G, inclusive.] 



CANID.ffi : 

 Vulpes lagopus. Blue or Arctic Fox. Common. 



Blue foxes were also, and are, natives of the Commander islands. Steller describes their fearlessness when the 

 shipwrecked crew of the St. Peter landed there, 0th November, 1741. I saw theni also at St. Matthew island. 



In regard to these foxes the Pribylov natives declare that when the islands were first occupied by their 

 ancestors, 1786-'87, the fur was invariably blue; that the present smoky blue, or ashy indigo color, is due to the 

 coming of white foxes across on the ice from the mainland to the eastward. The white-furred vulpes is quite 

 numerous on the islands to-day. 1 should judge that perhaps one-fifth of the whole number were of this color; 

 they do not live apart from the blue ones, but evidently breed "in and in". I notice that Veniamiuov, also, 



