CHAPTER XII. 



First Appearance — Tides — Currents — Winds — Lightning- — Seasons — 

 Temperature — Rain — Health — Dangers — Cautions — View — Settle- 

 ment — Animals — Foxes — Varieties — Seal — Whales — Fish and Fishery 

 — Birds — Brushwood — Feat — Pasture — Potash — Orchilla — Grazing — 

 Corn — Fruit — Vegetables — Trees — Plants — Land — Situation of prin- 

 cipal Settlement — ^Prospective advantages — Suggestions — Vernet's 

 Establishment — Reflections. 



In the appearance of the Falkland Islands, there is very 

 little either remarkable or interesting. About the greater part 

 of the archipelago, barren hills, sloping towards low and 

 broken ground, or rocky surf-beat shores, are the only objects 

 which meet the eye. On the West Falkland, and some small 

 islands near it, there are high precipitous cliffs in a few 

 parts exposed to the western seas ; but other places, and 

 especially the southern portions of East Falkland, are so low 

 that they cannot be seen from the deck of a vessel five miles 

 distant. The average height of the western island is greater 

 than that of the eastern, although the highest hills seem to be 

 in the latter, where they rise to about thirteen hundred feet 

 above the sea level. 



Around the islands, especially toward the south-eastern and 

 north-western extremes, there are numerous islets and rocks, 

 whose distance from shores, where tides run strongly and winds 

 are violent as well as sudden, makes them exceedingly dange- 

 rous ; more particularly near the north-west extremity of the 

 group : and as seamen require information on these matters 

 before entering a port, I will notice the tides, winds, and cli- 

 mate previous to other subjects. 



The tides differ much as to strength and direction in dif- 

 ferent parts of the archipelago, but the times of syzigial high 

 water only vary from five to eight o'clock ; and the rise of tide 

 is almost similar every where, about four feet at neap, and eight 



VOL, II. R 



