BOUGAINVILLE. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



COLONIZATION OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS — ANTOINE DE BOUGAINVILLE — HIS 



VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD ADVENTURE AT MONTEVIDEO THE PATA- 



GONIANS TAKING POSSESSION OP TAHITI FRENCH GALLANTRY — CEREMONIES 



OF RECEPTION SOJOURN AT THE ISLAND AOTOUROII THE FIRST FEMALE 



CIRCUMNAVIGATOR FAMINE ON BOARD REMARKABLE CASCADE ARRIVAL AT 



THE MOLUCCAS — INCIDENTS THERE — RETURN HOME. 



Several years before the period of which we are speaking, 

 the French Government had colonized the Falkland Islands, 

 lying off the eastern coast of Patagonia, The establishment 

 lasted barely three years, and, in an agricultural point of view, 

 was a complete and disastrous failure. The Spanish crown 

 subsequently claimed these islands as belonging to the continent 



of South America, and the King of France was easily induced 



452 



