FALKLAND ISLANDS. 49 



CHAPTER III. 



The Falkland Islands — History, Description, and Natural Productions — Pen- 

 guin, Albatross, &c. — Description of a South Sea Rookery — Arrival at Port 

 Louis — Shooting Bullocks and Geese — Departure from Port Louis — A Search 

 for the Aurora Islands — Perilous Situation among Icebergs — Kergulen's Land 

 — Christmas Harbour — The Sea-elephant — Antarctic Seas, open and tem- 

 perate in lat. 64° 50'. 



The Falkland Islands form a group or cluster in the South Atlantic 

 Ocean, about eighty leagues east from Cape Virgin, on the Straits of 

 Magellan ; extending north and south from lat. 50° 58' to 52° 46' S., 

 and east and west from long. 57° 32' to 61° 29' W. They were first 

 seen in 1592, by Captain Davis, who sailed under the command of 

 Sir Thomas Cavendish, and two years afterward by Sir Richard Haw- 

 Kins. They were afterward successively seen by other navigators, 

 such as Dampier, Cowley, Strong, &c. The latter gave them their 

 present name, in honour of Viscount Falkland. 



There is no appearance whatever of these islands having ever been 

 inhabited previous to their discovery by Europeans ; and the naviga- 

 tors who first landed on their shores found the animals so totally un- 

 acquainted with man that the birds suffered themselves to be taken by 

 the hand, and even settled upon the heads of the people. 



The first attempt at settling these islands was made by the French, 

 after losing Canada, in 1763, who selected them as a place of shelter 

 and refreshment for vessels bound to the South Seas. For this pur- 

 pose they established a little colony on the eastern island, at Berkley 

 Sound, which they denominated the Bay of Acheron. Two years 

 afterward the British took possession of these islands, and settled a 

 colony in Port Egmont. But neither attempt succeeded. The French 

 ceded their settlement to the Spaniards in 1767, and the English 

 abandoned theirs, as useless, in 1774. The whole country is now 

 claimed by the government of Buenos Ayres, of whom it might be 

 purchased on advantageous terms. 



It is my opinion that something might be made of this country. 

 The soil is good, clear of rocks, and susceptible of easy tillage and 

 high cultivation. Luxuriant meadows, or plains, in the interior, afford 

 excellent grazing for cattle all the year round. I have killed wild 

 cattle in Falkland Sound that produced from sixty to seventy pounds of 

 rough tallow ; and the extensive grassy plains abound with some of 

 the finest wild horses in the world. Though destitute of trees there 

 is no want of fuel, the low grounds producing an abundance of excel- 

 lent peat or turf, which burns well. 



The climate is temperate and salubrious, free from the extremes 

 of heat or cold, though subject to frequent rains and stormy winds. 

 The soil is everywhere well watered by running streams, which are 



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