232 



FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



of Beauchesne Goiiin having anchored in 1700 on their eastern 

 coast. 



In the year 1600, the islands now called Jason s. Salvages, 

 or Sebaldines, at the north-west extremity of the Falklands, 

 were seen and named by Sebald de Weert ; and during the 

 next two centuries many other navigators, sailing to or from 

 the Pacific, saw the Falklands ; but it does not appear that any 

 further landing was effected, or even that any vessel anchored 

 there, after Beauchesne, except the Saint Louis, of St. Malo, 

 until M. de Bougainville landed to form his settlement, in 

 February 1764. 



Several ships of St. Malo passed near the Eastern Falklands 

 between the years 1706 and 1714, from whose accounts M. 

 Frezier compiled his chart, published in 1717 ; and in com- 

 pliment to the owners of one of them (the Saint Louis), her 

 commander, M. Fouquet, named the cluster of islets near 

 which he anchored, the Anican Isles. 



In consequence of the visits of these ships of St. Malo, the 

 French named the islands Les Malouines ; but this was not 

 till after 1716, when Frezier compiled the chart in which he 

 called them ' Isles Nouvelles,' although in his own narrative 

 (p. 512, Amsterdam edition, 1717), he says, " Ces isles sont 

 sans doute les memes que celles que le Chevalier Richard 

 Hawkins decouvrit en 1593." 



The Spaniards adopted the French name, slightly altered, 

 by changing Malouines into Malvinas: even now the term 

 ' Maloon,' a corruption of Malouine, * is sometimes used by 

 English or Americans instead of island, in writing as well as 

 in speaking. 



During the early part of the last century, France maintained 

 a lucrative commerce with Chile and Peru, by way of Cape 

 Horn, and the advantages which might be derived from a port 

 of refuge and supply at the eastern extremity of the Falklands 

 did not escape her active discernment. 



De Bougainville says, " Cependant leur position heureuse 



* " Fortunately, it is on this maloon, or island, that bullocks and 

 horses arc found running- wild." — (Weddell, p. 970 



