FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 169 
its general appearance resembled that of a Norwegian 
town. 
Along the beach we could see several larger buildings, 
the most conspicuous being a Gothic church of grey stone, 
the corners of red freestone, and the spire still unfinished ; 
to the left of that was a long, low, white house, marked in 
very large letters Falkland Island Company, and near 
that again a large shed with convex iron roof, that we 
found was the Company's forge. 
It would be hard to express the feeling of perfect con- 
tentment and rest that came over us as we lay in this 
sheltered loch waiting to drop our anchor. The peat 
smoke blowing off shore on the keen south wind gave us 
a pleasant feeling of home-coming, rather than of visiting 
a distant colony. We had to wait about an hour before 
any one came off to show us our berth. At last, after 
much blowing on our fog-horn, we saw a man come 
down the shore, get into a dingy and row off to us with 
great vigour. This was the pilot— I may here say to 
those unfamiliar with the ways of the sea, that this is not 
the usual way of picking up a pilot ! When on board he 
explained why all the flags were hoisted in Stanley, and 
the reason was so flattering to our vanity, that it was put 
down as against his slowness in coming off. The people 
had taken us for one of her Majesty's ships of war, — our 
buff funnel had misled them. We felt extremely com- 
plimented, but could not but feel that distance in these 
parts must have a peculiarly enchanting effect. The 
pilot had not been told of our arrival ! And besides, he 
could not have breakfast on shore and pilot us into 
