Nov.] 



THE AURORA ISLANDS. 



57 



the parallel of 52° 45' S., as far as 43° 50' W., we stood to the north, 

 to latitude 52° 30', when we took the wind from south-east, and made 

 a west course, keeping in the last parallel, by double altitudes, every 

 opportunity, both morning and evening, and meridian altitudes of the 

 moon and different planets. We continued making a west course until 

 we were in long. 50° 22' W., when we steered to the south until we 

 were in latitude 53° 10', and ran down in that parallel to the long, of 

 40° 0' W., keeping one man at the masthead day and night. All our 

 labours, however, were unsuccessful. These tantalizing Auroras still 

 eluded our search, and were nowhere to be seen. We therefore re- 

 luctantly made up our minds that no such land existed in the location 

 assigned to it. 



It being more than probable that some of my readers have never 

 heard of these celebrated islands, as it is quite problematical whether 

 any one has ever seen them, this may be a proper place to give some 

 aecount of the circumstances which have led so many navigators to 

 waste days and weeks in search of them. The commander of a ship 

 called the Aurora is said to have given to these 



airy nothings 



A local habitation and a name. 



This was in the year 1762. In the publications of the Spanish " Royal 

 Hydrographical Society of Madrid," for 1809, it is said that these 

 islands were seen again in 1790, "by the ship Princess, belonging to 

 the Royal Philippine Company, Captain Manuel de Oyarvido; who 

 showed us his journal in Lima," say the publishers, " and gave us 

 some information with regard to their situation. In 1794 the corvette 

 Atrevida went purposely to situate them ; having practised in their 

 immediate vicinity, from the twenty-first to the twenty-seventh of 

 January, all the necessary observations, and measured by chronome- 

 ters the difference of longitude between these islands and the port of 

 Soledad, in the Malninas (or Falkland Isles). The islands are three ; 

 they are very nearly in the same meridian ; the centre one is rather 

 low, and the other two may be seen at nine leagues' distance." 



According to the observations and calculations said to have been 

 made on board this corvette Atrevida, the most southern of these islands 

 is in latitude 53° 15' 22" S., long. 47° 57' 15" W. ; the most northern 

 in latitude 52° 37' 24" S., long. 47° 43'- 15" W. ; and the centre one 

 in latitude 53° 2' 40" S., long. 47° 55' 15" W. These islands were 

 also seen in 1769, by the ship San Miguel ; in 1774, by the ship Au- 

 rora; in 1779, by the Pearl ; and in 1790, by the Dolores. All agree 

 that their mean latitude is about 53° S. 



In consequence of the credibility of such documents, published by 

 authority of the Spanish government, my worthy friend Captain James 

 Weddel, of the English navy, made a strict search for these islands in 

 1820, sailing for that purpose from St. John's, in Staten Land, on the 

 twenty-seventh of January. In concluding the account of his cruise, 

 he says, "Having thus diligently searched through the supposed 

 situation of the Auroras, I concluded that the discoverers must have 

 been misled by appearances ; I therefore considered any further cruise 



