THE NAVAL STATION AT PORT STANLEY. 



177 



taken on board by his 300 fellow-passengers would be a serious calculation. The little 

 town has not much to recommend it: It has, of course, a Government House and a church, 

 and barracks for the marines stationed there. It is, moreover, the head-quarters of the 

 Falkland Islands Company, a corporation much like the Hudson's Bay Company, trading 

 in furs and hides, and stores for ships and native trade. The three great characteristics 

 of Port Stanley are the penguins, which abound, and are to be seen waddling in troops 



THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS AT TIUNIDAD. 



in its immediate vicinity, and stumbling over the stones if pursued ; the kelp, which is so 

 thick and strong in the water at the edge of the bay in places, that a strong boat's crew 

 can hardly get " way " enough on to reach the shore ; and the peat-bogs, which would remind 

 an Irishman of his beloved Erin. Peat is the principal fuel of the place ; and what glorious 

 fires it makes ! At least, so thought a good many of the passengers who took the opportunity 

 of living on shore during the fortnight of the vessel's stay. For about three shillings and 

 sixpence a day one could obtain a good bed, meals of beef-steaks and joints and fresh 

 vegetables very welcome after the everlasting salt junk and preserved vegetables of the 

 ship with the addition of hot rum and water, nearly ad libitum. Then the privilege of 

 stretching one's legs is something, after five or six weeks' confinement. There is duck and 

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