238 



FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



In 1823, the Buenos Ayrean Government took another step, 

 in the appointment of a ' comandante de las Malvinas and in 

 the same year, Lewis Vernet, by birth a German, in concert 

 with his friends at Buenos Ayres, " solicited and obtained from 

 the Government the use of the fishery and of the cattle on the 

 Eastern Malvina, and likewise tracts of land thereon, in order 

 to provide for the subsistence of the settlement.* This under- 

 taking did not prosper ; but the next year Mr. Vernet pre- 

 pared a second expedition, in which he himself sailed. His 

 own words (translated) are : " After many sacrifices, I was 

 enabled to surmount great obstables ; but still that which we 

 expected to effect in one year was not realized before the expi- 

 ration of five. My partners lost all hope, and sold me their 

 shares. I bought successively three vessels, and lost them; 

 I chartered five, one of which was lost. Each blow produced 

 dismay in the colonists, who several times resolved to leave 

 that ungrateful region, but were restrained by their affection 

 for me, which I had known how to win, and by the example 

 of constancy and patience which my family and myself held 

 out to them.'" 



In 1828, the Government of Buenos Ayres granted to Mr. 

 Vernet (with certain exceptions) the right of property in the 

 Falkland Islands — and in Staten Land ! " It also conceded 

 to the colony exemption from taxation for twenty years, and 

 for the same period the exclusive right to the fishery in all the 

 Malvinas, and on the coast of the continent to the southward 

 of the Rio Negro, under the condition that within three years 

 I (Vernet) should have established the colony."" J 



About this time merchant-vessels of all nations visited the 

 Falkland Islands, both in their outward voyage and when 

 returning from the Pacific; but advantageous as their visits 

 were, those of numerous sealers had a very different effect : for, 

 instead of frequenting the settlement, their crews killed the 

 seal indiscriminately at all seasons, and slaughtered great 

 numbers of wild cattle. " For this reason," says Vernet, " I 



* See note in preceding page. t Idem. % Idem. 



