THE STEAIT OF MAGELLAN. 291 



ing on the Sarmiento Bank. The 8th* and 9th were also fine, 

 and similarly employed ; on the 10th there was a good deal 

 of both wind and rain; and on the afternoon of the 11th we 

 left the Strait for the Falkland Islands, to fill up with coal and 

 provisions. The 12th was a lovely calm day, and we pro- 

 ceeded on our course most comfortably. We observed some 

 very fine albatrosses, and a solitary penguin, which was pro- 

 gressing at a rapid rate by means of a series of flying leaps, 

 presenting much the appearance of an animated beer-bottle. 

 A breeze sprang up in the night from the N.N.E., and next 

 morning we were rolling and pitching most unpleasantly. The 

 direction of the Avind caused us to keep to the south, instead 

 of to the north, of the islands, as on the former occasion, and 

 towards evening we got fairly under the lee of the land, and 

 so went on our way more quietly. A thick mist, however, 

 prevailed, so that it was not till ten A.M. on the 13 th that the 

 land was made and our position ascertained. That day we 

 kept up a good rate of speed under steam and sail, and not 

 long after noon we entered Stanley Harbour, where we found 

 H.M.S. "Narcissus" lying, she having arrived the day before. 

 The aspect of the settlement did not strike us as more inviting 

 than on our former visit, and as it was a showery afternoon 

 but few of us went on shore. The following afternoon was 

 devoted to a round of calls on the inhabitants of Stanley, 

 and on the morning of the 16th (a rather pleasant day), I 

 landed with Dr. Campbell, and had a long walk across the 

 country to a bay situated to the south of the harbour, and not 

 far from Port Harriett. We obtained some fine specimens of 

 Callixene marginata and Oxalis ennea;pliylla in flower, and in 



* On the 8th, shortly after noon, we ran on a rock on the Sarmiento Bank, 

 not laid down in any of the charts, and stuck on the top of it for about an 

 hour, being released when the tide rose. Comparatively little damage was 

 fortunately, sustained. 



