FALKLAND ISLANDS. 303 



Undisputed dominion over this wintry and 

 storm-beaten region. 



To the strait between Tierra del Fuego and 

 Staten Land, Le Maire has attached his name ; 

 but Staten Land — still desolate and uninha- 

 bited — serves only to remind us of the ancient 

 enterprise of ill-fated Holland. 



It has been asserted with ponfidence that the 

 first European who placed his eyes on the 

 Falkland Islands, was Davies an Englishman, 

 and an associate of Cavendish, in his voyage 

 to the South Seas, in 1592, during the reign of 

 Queen Elizabeth. Driven by storms within 

 view of them, so imperfect was the discovery 

 that he left not even the frail memory of a 

 name. 



In 1594 Sir Richard Hawkins, an English 

 admiral in the service of Queen Elizabeth, 

 saw these islands, and in honour of his mistress 

 and himself, called them Hawkinses Maiden- 

 land. 



In 1598 the states of Holland despatched a 

 squadron to the South .Seas, under the com- 

 mand of Admiral Verhagen and Sabald de 

 Wect. These islands were seen by the squa- 



