Yakhed which some historians 
Islands 
Discovery, 
History. 
‘in conformity to his. instructions, took 
F 
ians have expressed ; but 
memorable day, De Graham and Stuart were 
battle, and both of them were buried in ‘ 
of Falkirk. Till of late the grave of Sir John 
was only distinguished by a stone, shaped like a 
coffin, and without a name; but now his name and 
fate are inscribed u the stone. Sir John de 
Graham's was origi marked by a sculptured figure 
in homan —_ At three rade pray times, stones sm 
rted by pillars, were over his grave, one above 
as es the care of relations, namesakes, or friends, 
and the last was erected by William Graham, of Airth, 
Esq. A. D. 1773. 7 
In the beginning of the year 1746, a battle, or rather 
skirmish, was fought between the king’s forces and the 
Highland troops, in the interest of the Stuart family. 
The king's forces were routed, and fled toward Linlith- 
gow ; Highlanders took possession of the town of 
Falkirk, and conducted themselves with a considerable 
degree of order and moderation, though they knew that 
the people in general were hostile to their views. A 
monument was erected in the church-yard of Falkirk, 
over the bodies of Sir Robert Monro, bart. of Foulis, 
and his brother the Doctor, who were both killed in the 
field of battle. 
The Callander estates, after the forfeiture of that no- 
ble family, were sold to the York Buildings Company ; 
and when their affairs had run into disorder, they were 
exposed to sale by the authority of the Court of Ses- 
sion, and purchased by: William Forbes, Esq. a native 
of Aberdeen, who is the present proprietor. (3. w.) 
FALKLAND Istanps, a group of islands in the At- 
tantic Ocean, situated at the utmost extremity of South 
America, and about 80 leagues from the Straits of Ma- 
gellan. Two of them are of considerable extent, being 
more than-70 | es in circumference ; and lie be- 
tween 51° 10’ and 524° South Latitude, and between 
58° and 62° West Longitude. These islands were first 
seen by Captain Davis, who sailed under Sir Thomas 
Cavendish in 1592 ; next by, Sir Richard Hawkins in 
159+, who called them Havwkin’s Maidenland, in ho- 
nour of Queen Elizabeth; in the year 1598, by Sebald 
de Wert, who named them Sebald’s isles, and they are 
so designed in all the Dutch charts ; in 1683, by Dam- 
pier, and probably about the same time by Cowley ; 
in 1689, by Strong, who gave them their present ap- 
pellation in honour of Viscount Falkland ; in 1699, by 
a Frenchman named Soede pe a 1721, 
by Roggewin, a Mecklenburgher in the Dutch service, 
ms circumnavigated the whole group, and called: it 
Belgia Australis. The Dutch mistaking the numerous 
capes for portions of different islands, gave to the whole 
the designation of New Islands ; the French genérally 
call them Malouines, from the people of St Maloes, 
whom they wish to consider as the first discoverers. 
The navigators of the last mentioned nation were, with- 
out question, the first settlers on these islands, when 
their government, after the loss of Canada, in 1763, 
selected them as a new American settlement, particu- 
larly as a place of shelter and refreshment for vessels 
bound to the South Seas. A colony of Acadian fami- 
hies, above twenty-seven $s in all, was carried 
thither in 1764, by Commotore B inville; and in the 
following ear, by the addition of new colonists, the 
number of inhabitants amounted to about 150. In the 
beginning also of the year 1765, Commodore Byron, 
i i ion of 
these islands in the name of his Britannic Majesty ; and 
270 
FAL 
very little value, i ly from the total want of 
wood ; and first the French ceded their settlement to 
the Spaniards in 1767, and the English abandoned 
theirs in 1774. They are now | by 
niards as a receptacle for criminals from er 
can dominions. ¢ 
The two largest of these islands are sepai 
channel about twelve leagues in length, to three 
in breadth ; and wace*tetstahed with the ont secure 
and capacious harbours. Port Egmont, on the north- 
west coast of the largest island, is described by Byron, 
as one of the finest havens in the world, and as capable 
of containing the whole British navy in perfect secu- 
rity. The general of the coast is rocky and de- 
solate ; and no kind of wood has been found on any 
part of the islands. They to the first naviga- 
tors, while sailing along the shores, to be completely 
covered with trees ; but these, upon a nearer a ‘ 
wore diacdves6ih tobe neibdhagr bat tidal af walt anaes 
height of 
and reeds, which in clusters to the 
three feet, and then shoot out other stalks about six or 
seven feet in length. The higher lands are covered 
with heath, and is great abundance of excellent 
turf for fuel, capable even of supplying sufficient heat 
toa forge. There is no appearance whatever of thos 
islands having ever been inhabited ious to their 
discovery by Europeans; and the navigators, who first 
Janded upon their shores, found the animals so unac- 
quainted with man, that the birds suffered themselves 
to be taken with the hand, and even settled upon the 
heads of the people when they stood still. The sur. Soi 
face is marshy, and the soil is composed first of a thick 
turf, then a black mould, from eight to twelve inches 
deep, and next a yellowish clay, resting upon strata of 
slate and stone. In most places on the coast is stone 
fit for building ; and, in the interior, there is earth ca- 
pable of being manufactured into bricks and potter's 
ware. The rocks are chiefly of quartz, with some 
yrites, and marks of . Red and grey slate, and 
ifferent kinds of ochre, are common ; but no mines or 
metals have been discovered. The climate is re 
and salubrious, free from the extremes of heat or cold ; 
but there are frequent rains and stormy winds in all 
seasons of the year, The ing streams are never 
frozen; and the ice on the lakes and pools is seldom 
sufficiently strong to bear the weight of a man, above 
twenty-four hours in succession, Snow remains upon 
the tops of the highest mountains about two months in 
winter; but seldom above a day or two in the lower 
grounds, The hoar frosts in spring and autumn occa- 
sion no injury to the plants, but, being thawed by the 
sun, are converted into a refreshing dew. TT. is 
seldom heard in summer ; but, even during that sea- 
son of the year, the winds are almost uniformly vio- 
lent ; and, from the want of fuel and shelter, all the 
settlers have suffered 
peculiarity has been observed in the tides, which do 
not rise at settled periods subject to calculation; but 
just before high water, the sea, in less than a quarter of 
an hour, rises and falls three times, as if shaken up and 
down, and this motion is always more violent during 
the solstices, equinoxes, and full moons. The surface Vegetable 
of the ground is covered with turf, shrubs, 
and a variety of ts. The turf, which is found 
chiefly above the clay soil, is.formed-of the roots and 
Wan \néttled,, ‘the! yet after, in! Port Fatale 
; Kea rene | Port Falldand 
gg ve 
by & Aspect 
greatly from cold, A remarkable Tides. 
