344 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



the extremity of which are two pinnacle rocks, of considerable height, evidently 

 joined at one time to the high land in the neighbourhood, but probably separated 

 by the action of water. Between Cape Challenger and Cape George the coast is high 

 and precipitous, midway between them is a break in these cliffs, which forms a small 

 cove, Big Belly Bay, from which a deep ravine runs up to the northwestward towards 

 Mount Crosbie. Westward of Cape Challenger the coast is not so precipitous, descending 

 less abruptly from the ridge of hills, on the top of which stands the double peak, Mount 

 Tizard, 2720 feet high, and the single cone, Mount Evans, 2600 feet high. The project- 

 ing points of the coast between Cape Challenger and Swain's Bay have each of them 

 tapering basaltic columns near their extremities, of considerable height ; off the point at 

 the end of the spur from Mount Evans are two low islands. The details of the coast 

 westward of Swain's Bay could not be distinguished, but the land was seen about Cape 

 Bourbon, which satisfactorily proved that Cape Challenger was the southern point of the 

 main island. At 3 p.m. the fires were banked and sail made for Heard Island. 



The island of Kerguelen, 1 including all outlying dangers, lies between the parallels of 

 48° 27' and 49° 50' S. latitude, and the meridians of 68° 30' and 70° 35' E. longitude. It 

 was originally discovered by M. de Kerguelen on the 12th February 1772, who on 

 that day sighted Solitary Island. Early the next morning the Fortune Islands and the 

 whole of the coast from Cape St Louis to Cape Bourbon came in sight, and Kerguelen 

 standing towards Cape Bourbon passed between it and Mingan Island, his consort, " Le 

 Gros Ventre " preceding his own ship " La Fortune"; but the weather suddenly becoming 

 thick and the wind freshening, he was obliged to stand off the land ; and, after remain- 

 ing in its vicinity until the 18th, battling against strong winds and foggy weather, in a 

 ship whose masts were badly sprang, wisely returned to Mauritius without prosecuting 

 his researches in a disabled vessel. His consort " Le Gros Ventre," Captain Saint 

 Allouran, succeeded in sending a boat on shore in charge of M. de Boisquehennen, who 

 landed in a bay which he named " Loup Marine," and took possession of the island in 

 the name of the King of France, leaving on shore a bottle containing a paper giving an 

 account of his visit. The precise position of Loup Marine Bay is doubtful, it is probably the 

 first inlet east of Cape Bourbon, and may be that known at present as Sprightly Bay. As 

 nothing has been heard of the bottle, with its enclosed papers, since it was deposited by 

 M. de Boisquehennen, it may possibly yet be found, and serve to identify the spot in 

 Kerguelen Island first visited by man. Kerguelen describes the coast between Cape 

 St. Louis and Cape Bourbon as very high, Mingan Island as low, and about 3 miles round, 

 and the Tremarec or Benodet Islands as rocks over which the sea broke furiously. 



1 Kei-guelen's Voyage, 1782 ; Cook's Voyage, 1785 ; Page's Voyage ; Morrell's Voyage ; Ross's Antarctic Voyage ; 

 Wreck of the " Favourite " ; " Venus " Expedition, Father Perry ; Annalen der Hydrograpliie, 1875 ; Proceedings 

 of the Royal Society, 1876 ; Reports to Hydrograpliie Office by Sir G. S. Nares, and documents in the Hydrograpliie 

 Department of the Admiralty. 



