146 



BOUGAINVILLE HARBOUR. 



June 1828, 



at the Falkland Islands. Captain Stokes says of this place : 

 "After seeing the abundant supplies of timber which Freshwater 

 Bay and Port Famine afford, I had shared in the surprise which 

 Byron expresses, that any one should have come so far up the 

 Strait to get it ; but on examining the spot, I found that a hap- 

 pier selection could not have been made. It is a little covcj just 

 round the eastern point of the Bay of San Nicolas, about a 

 hundred yards wide and three times as long. Here, moored to 

 the shore, a ship may lie in eight fathoms, perfectly sheltered 

 from any wind, the water as smooth as in a wet-dock. Shapely 

 trees, of all dimensions, are growing within a few yards of the 

 shore ; and the wood, when felled, may be hoisted on board 

 from the beach, by tackles from the yard-arras. Here, too, with 

 very little trouble, a supply of water may be got from the 

 many streams that make their way through the underwood 

 which skirts the cove. As we pulled up this sequestered nook, 

 the unusual sound of our oars and voices put to flight multi- 

 tudes of birds, and the surface of the water was broken by the 

 jumping of fine fish. Some very eatable geese were shot. Our 

 stay was too short to admit of hauling the seine ; but my boat's 

 crew contrived to half-fill the boat with excellent muscles and 

 limpets, which are found here in great plenty."' 



The geological character of the coast between Cape St. Isidro 

 and San Nicolas Bay is clay-slate ; near the beach, however, 

 this rock is not visible, since it is there covered with a kind of 

 breccia of rounded pebbles, in an indurated sandy rock, of green 

 colour. The pebbles are principally of slate; but some were 

 found to be of granite and other quartzose rock, perhaps green- 

 stone. 



One of the headlands, called by M. Bougainville Cape Re- 

 marquable, was examined by Mr. Graves for fossil shells, of 

 which the French navigator speaks. Half the rock was beaten 

 to pieces, without detecting anything like organic remains. 

 Living shells were in the greatest abundance about the base of 

 the Cape, but that is the case every where. The species gene- 

 rally found are limpets and muscles, but with little variety and 

 no novelty. 



