Chapter IV: Part 4

This town consists of near a thousand brick houses, the outsides of which being generally plaistered, they have a very pleasing appearance. There is a canal in the main street, with two rows of oak-trees on its borders, which are in a more flourishing state than the other trees of this country: the streets, which cross each other at right angles, are very spacious and handsome. The inhabitants are chiefly Dutch, or of Dutch extraction: the women are beautiful in a high degree, and possess those blooming countenances which denote the most perfect health: they are most of them mothers of many children, and Captain Cook says, they are the best wives in the world.

The air of the Cape of Good Hope is so pure and salubrious, that a sick person, who goes thither from Europe, whatever be his disorder, almost always recovers his health in a little time; but those who bring diseases with them from the East Indies, have not an equal chance of recovery.

Although this country is naturally so barren, as scarcely to produce any thing, yet the unceasing industry of its inhabitants has so effectually combated the sparing hand of Nature, that there are few places where the necessaries of life are more plentiful, and even what are generally deemed luxuries, are by no means scarce. The constantia wine is known to be excellent, but the genuine sort is made only at one particular vineyard a few miles from the town. The gardens produce many sorts of European and Indian fruits, and almost all the common kinds of vegetables. The cultivated fields yield wheat and barley of equal quality with that of the growth of England. The sheep of this country have tails of a very extraordinary size, many of which weigh upwards of a dozen pounds; the meat of this animal as well as of the ox, is very fine food: the wool of the sheep is rather of the hairy kind, and the horns of the black cattle spread much wider than those of England, while the beast himself is handsomer and lighter made. The cheese has a very indifferent flavour, but the butter is extremely good. The pork of this country is nearly the same as that of Europe, and there are abundance of goats, but the inhabitants do not eat their flesh. The country abounds in hares, altogether like those of England; there are several species of the antelope, a plenty of bustards, and two kinds of quails.

When a stranger arrives at the Cape, it is customary for him to board in a private house, and he pays from two shillings to a crown a day, according to the accommodations he expects. If he appears and behaves as a gentleman, he is invited to the private entertainments which are given by the more opulent of the inhabitants; and this cannot fail of being the more acceptable, as there are no places of public diversion in the country. Horses are here let to hire at six shillings a day, and coaches at one pound four.

The Dutch company have a garden at the extremity of the high street, which is more than half a mile in length, in the center walk of which are a number of fine oak trees. A small part of this garden is covered with botanical plants, but all the rest is allotted to the production of the common vegetables for the kitchen: the whole is divided into squares by the form of its walks, and each square is fenced in by oaks cut into small hedges. There is a menagerie of beasts and birds, many of them known in Europe, at the upper end of this garden; and among the rest is the _Coe Doe_, a beast not less than a horse, which has those curious spiral horns that have frequently found a place in the cabinets of the curious.

The native inhabitants of this country are usually dressed in a sheep skin thrown across the shoulders, and a little pouch before them, to which is fixed a kind of belt, ornamented with little bits of copper, and beads: round the waists of the women is a broad piece of leather, and rings of the same round their ancles, to protect them from the thorns, which grow in abundance all over the country; a few of them wear a kind of shoe, made of the bark of a tree, but the major part of them go barefooted: both sexes adorn themselves with bracelets and necklaces, made of beads. None of these people reside at a less distance than four days journey from Cape Town, except a number of the poorer sort, who look after the cattle belonging to the Dutch farmers, and are employed in various other menial offices. Their stature is about the same as that of the people of England, from five to six feet in height; but scarce any of them are corpulent: their skins are dark, but this is in a great degree owing to their extreme indelicacy: their hair curls naturally, and falls in ringlets of above six inches in length: they are singular for their strength and agility.

Most of the Hottentots speak the Dutch language, without any thing remarkable in their manner; yet, when they converse in their native language, they frequently stop, and make a clucking with their tongues, which has a most singular and ridiculous effect to the ears of a stranger; and, exclusive of this clucking, their language itself is scarcely sounded articulately.

These people are modest to the utmost degree of bashfulness, and, though they are fond of singing and dancing, can hardly be prevailed on to divert themselves with their favourite amusements before strangers: both their singing and dancing are alternately quick and slow in the utmost extreme.

Some of the Hottentots understand the art of melting and preparing copper, with which they make plates, and wear them on their foreheads, as an article of finery. They are also capable of making knives, superior to those they can purchase of the Dutch, from whom they procure the iron.

They have the art of making butter by shaking milk in the skin of a beast: with this butter they anoint their skins; or, when they cannot procure butter, they use the fat of the sheep. The principal people are owners of immense herds of cattle; and these clothe themselves with the skins of lions and other beasts, which are adorned with fringes, elegantly designed.

The Hottentots are so dextrous in throwing stones, that they will hit a mark not larger than a crown piece, at the distance of an hundred yards. They are likewise expert in the use of arrows, and of the lance called an Assagay, the points of which they poison, sometimes with the venom of a serpent, and sometimes with the juice of particular herbs; so that a wound received from either of these weapons is almost always mortal.

Exclusive of what is above recited, they met with nothing respecting these people, but such particulars as have been previously mentioned by various other voyagers, and which will of course be found in the preceding volumes: we shall therefore accompany the ship in her voyage to England.

On the 14th of April, 1771, the anchor of the Endeavour was weighed, and she once more put to sea, but came to an anchor again before night near Robin island. As a few vegetables were wanted, which they had neglected to take in at the Cape, the Captain sent off a boat to the island; but, when she reached the shore, some Dutch soldiers forbad her crew landing, at the hazard of their lives; and the officer who commanded very prudently returned to the ship. For some time they were puzzled to account for this behaviour on the part of the Dutch; but it was at length recollected, that the Dutch government at the Cape of Good Hope had assigned this island for the reception of such offenders whose crimes were not deemed worthy of death, where their slavery consists in digging lime-stone, for such a number of years as are thought proportionable to the heinousness of their offences: and that a ship belonging to Denmark, which had buried most of her hands, had called at this island, and taken on board a number of these criminals, in order to navigate the vessel to Europe: hence the conduct of the Dutch soldiers was easily accounted for.

The ship sailed again on the following day, when the master of her died, having hastened his death by hard drinking, though, in other respects, he left behind him an excellent character.

On Monday, May-day, they came to an anchor off the island of St. Helena, and, as they proposed to remain three days, Mr. Banks employed the interval in surveying every object that was thought worthy of notice.

The island of St. Helena rises out of the immense Atlantic ocean, is about eighteen hundred miles from the coast of America, and twelve hundred from that of Africa. It has the appearance of a huge mountain, the foundation of which is probably at the center of the globe. It had formerly volcanoes in several parts of it, as is evident from the appearance of the earth and stones in many places; and it looks like a cluster of rocks, bounded by precipices of immense height: as a vessel sails along the coast, the cliffs perpend over her head so as to threaten her instant destruction, and nothing in nature can be conceived more awful than their appearance.

Close to the sea side stands the town, which had formerly a church of very indifferent architecture, but it is now little better than a heap of ruins, nor is the market house in a much better condition: most of the houses are also constructed in a vile taste.

As this island is the property of the English East India Company, the inhabitants are not suffered to carry on any trade for their own emolument, but get their livelihood by selling the productions of the island to the crews of the vessels which anchor there for a supply of refreshments.

St. Helena is so happily situated, with regard to climate, that it would, if properly cultivated, produce the trees, fruits, plants and flowers, of all the different parts of the world. On the summit of the highest ridges the cabbage-tree flourishes; in the parts below these grow the gum-wood and red-wood, and in the vallies many of the plants of the Indies, and almost all those of Europe; yet these several productions will not grow but on the spots of ground peculiarly adapted to each.

The only white inhabitants of the island are subjects of the King of Great Britain: these employ slaves, who transport goods of all kinds from place to place on their heads; and we are sorry to say, that the inhumanity of our countrymen to these slaves is a disgrace to those who profess the christian faith. There are a small number of horses at St. Helena, but they are never employed in draught, there being no such thing as a waggon or cart on the island, though in many places the land is not so steep, but that such carriages might easily be drawn.

Ebony-trees are a natural production of the island of St. Helena, but there have not been many of them within the memory of any person now living there. Snails are found in abundance on the summits of the highest mountains; but the other insects of the island are very few in number.

On Saturday the 4th of May 1771, the Endeavour sailed from the road of St. Helena, together with the Portland man of war, and several sail of Indiamen. They kept company with the man of war and Indiamen till Friday the 10th. But Captain Cook observing, that they were out-sailed by all the other ships, and consequently imagining that some of them would reach England before him, made signals to speak with the Portland, when the Captain of that vessel came on board, and received from Captain Cook a letter to the Lords of the Admiralty, together with a box, in which were deposited the journals of many of the officers, and the ship’s log books.

On the 23d they lost sight of all the ships they sailed in company with from St. Helena, and in the afternoon of the same day, Mr. Hicks, the first Lieutenant, died of a consumption, with which he had been afflicted during the whole voyage.

No single occurrence worth recording happened from this time, till the ship came to an anchor in the Downs, which was on the 12th of June following.

Whoever has carefully read, and duly considered the wonderful protection of this ship, in cases of danger the most imminent and astonishing, particularly when encircled in the wide ocean with rocks of coral, her sheathing beaten off, and her false-keel floating by her side, a hole in her bottom, and the men alternately fainting at the pumps, and will yet deny the existence of a _particular Providence_, and the most gracious and merciful interposition of the Deity, in behalf of our adventrous countrymen, will deserve some share of that censure, which the thinking part of mankind have so liberally and justly bestowed on the Compiler of the account of the Voyage of the ENDEAVOUR. There is a comfort in the reflection that God is good, which can be felt only by those who acknowledge his mercy, and adore his power.

ACCOUNT OF
MONS. DE BOUGAINVILLE’s
VOYAGE
ROUND THE WORLD.
PERFORMED BY
ORDER OF THE FRENCH KING,
In the years 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769.

A settlement having been commenced for the French King, on Falkland’s Islands[1], in the month of February 1764, the Spaniards demanded them as their right, as an appendage to the continent of South America; and France having allowed the propriety of the demand, Mons. Bougainville was ordered to yield possession of the islands to the Spaniards.

[1] M. Bougainville every where calls these islands the _Isles
Malouines_; but we shall call them by the name of Falkland’s Islands,
which was given them by our countryman, Strong, in 1689.

In consequence of the orders he had received, he sailed from the port of Mindin on the 15th of November 1766, having under his command the frigate la Boudeuse--la Esmeralda, and la Liebre; two frigates belonging to Spain, were to join him in the river de la Plata, to the commanding officer of which he was to deliver the settlement; and the l’Etoile, a French store-ship, was to carry him such provisions as were necessary for the long voyage on which he was bound, and to meet him at Falkland’s Islands: but the voyage was necessarily several months longer in compleating than it might have been, on account, as will appear hereafter, of the delay which prevented the l’Etoile from joining Mons. Bougainville.

The Boudeuse had been at sea only two days when she encountered such a violent storm of wind, as carried away the clue of the fore-sail, broke the top-mast, and main-top-mast, and took off the head of the main-mast. Thus situated, Mons. Bougainville found it necessary to put into Brest to refit, and to make some necessary alterations in the stowage of his ship, which was ill calculated, for withstanding the fury of those seas he was to pass, and particularly so for the navigation of the seas round Cape Horn.

And here a reflection will naturally arise, on that fatality, by which those who have the appointment of naval equipments, almost always destine for services of the most imminent danger, vessels totally inadequate for the purpose. Hence arise orders and counter-orders, till the proper season for performing the most hazardous parts of the voyage, is lost in the necessary preparation for making it.

On the 5th of December Mons. Bougainville sailed from the harbour of Brest, having on board the Prince of Nassau-Seighen, three gentlemen who went as volunteers, eleven officers in commission; and warrant-officers, seamen, soldiers, servants and boys, to the number of two hundred.

On the 17th they were in sight of the Salvages, a small flat island, which at each end rises into a hillock: the next day they saw the Island of Palma, and that of Ferro on the 19th. Mons. Bougainville was now convinced of a great error in his reckoning, which he attributes to the rapidity of the currents opposite the Streights of Gibraltar. Having corrected his reckoning, he took a fresh departure, and arrived at Rio de la Plata, without meeting with any thing worthy of notice.

On the evening of the 29th of January they had sight of Rio de la Plata, but as the night was dark and tempestuous, they lay to, with the head of the vessel towards the offing. The next morning they had a view of the mountains of Maldonado, which, after a ship enters the Rio de la Plata, are the first high lands seen to the north. At the Maldonados the Spaniards have a small garrisoned town, in the vicinity of which are picked up some beautiful transparent stones; and there is likewise a gold mine near it, which has been worked for a few years past, but has yielded little profit.

On the morning of the 31st the Boudeuse came to an anchor in the Bay of Montevideo, where the two Spanish ships, which were to take possession of Falkland’s Islands, had been at anchor for some weeks.

Don Philip Ruis Puente, the principal in command of the Spanish vessels, having been appointed Governor of the islands which were to be surrendered by the French, he accompanied Mons. Bougainville to Buenos Ayres, to settle, with the Governor-general, the mode of making the cession: and the Prince of Nassau-Sieghen attended them in this expedition.

The gentlemen made the voyage in a schooner, but a contrary wind preventing their passage by sea, they went on shore above the colony of San Sacramento, and travelled over a prodigious extent of country, in which there were no roads, and where the eye was their only guide. During this expedition they slept in little hovels constructed with leather, while the tygers howled round them on every side. Mons. Bougainville particularly mentions the manner and the danger of their passing the river St. Lucia, which is wide and deep, yet amazingly rapid:--being placed in a long narrow canoe, one side of which was beyond all proportion higher than the other, a horse was fastened on each side the vessel, the master of which pulling off all his cloaths, got into it, and supporting the heads of the horses above the surface of the stream, drove them across it, in the best manner he was able, and, with some difficulty, they stemmed the rapidity of the torrent. It is necessary for travellers who pass this wild and extensive country to be very careful in finding the fordable parts of the rivers; they usually drive before them a considerable number of horses, in order to take fresh ones as often as those they ride on are jaded.

Monsieur Bougainville having transacted his business at Buenos Ayres, returned to Montevideo on the 16th of February, and was followed in a few days by the Spanish Governor, Don Puente. Some necessaries of various kinds being taken on board, the vessels were prepared for sailing to Falkland’s Islands.

Our author now gives a long account of the establishment of the Spaniards in Rio de la Plata, of which we shall take no notice, because similar accounts are to be found in a great number of volumes, some or other of which are in the hands of almost every reader.

Our voyagers having caused a small vessel to be laden with cattle for the use of the ship’s companies, they sailed in company, on the 28th of February 1767, a pilot, acquainted with the coast of Falkland’s Islands, having been previously put on board each of the Spanish ships; but this day they were obliged to bring their vessels to an anchor, on account of the thickness of a fog, which prevented their seeing land.

The winds now proving contrary, the ships remained at anchor the following day; but as the current of the river ran strongly in their favour, Mons. Bougainville sent to acquaint the Spanish commander, that his vessel being too near the English sand-bank, off the isle of Flores, he thought it would be proper to sail on the following day, even if the wind should not change in their favour. To this the Spanish officer replied, that his pilot refused to weigh the anchor till the wind became fair and blew steady: on which Don Puente was acquainted, that the anchor of the Boudeuse would certainly be weighed early the next morning, and that she would either anchor more to the north, or ply to the windward, waiting for the Spanish ships, unless they should be unavoidably separated by the violence of the wind.

The small vessel laden with cattle had not come to an anchor during the preceding night, nor was she seen any more during the voyage; but it was afterwards learnt that she went back to Montevideo, after an absence of three weeks from that place. The night had been so tempestuous, that all the ships dragged their anchors, and in the morning the Spanish vessels were observed with their main-yards lowered, and their top-masts handed: the Boudeuse, however, got under sail, and got out of the river before night, leaving the Spaniards still at anchor. Mons. Bougainville had variable, but chiefly bad, weather till the 23d of the month, when he came to an anchor in the Bay of Falkland’s islands, where the Spanish vessels also anchored, on the day following. These last had suffered extremely through the inclemency of the weather; the cabbin windows of Don Puente’s ship had been broke by the violence of the waves, so that the sea for some time poured into her in torrents; and a number of cattle, destined for the use of the colony at Falkland’s Island, died on the passage.

On the 1st of April Mons. Bougainville, in the name of the French king, surrendered the island to Don Puente, who received it for his most catholic Majesty, with the ceremony of hoisting the Spanish colours, and the firing of guns from the ships and on shore: Mons. Bougainville then read a letter, in which his sovereign granted leave to such of the inhabitants as chose to continue their residence, to be under the dominion of Spain: this offer was accepted by some, while others embarked with the garrison, and were conveyed to Montevideo in the Spanish ships. The whole expence of the French settlement, to the time of its being delivered to the Spaniards, was six hundred and three thousand livres; but as his most Catholic Majesty took the ships, provisions, and all the stores of every kind, he reimbursed this sum to France.

Mons. Bougainville now proceeds to make some historical remarks respecting Falkland’s Islands, in which we shall trace him with all possible fidelity. He says that, in the year 1502, when Americo Vespucius was on his third voyage for the discovery of America, he sailed along the northern coasts of the islands, and to him, therefore, he allows the honour of being the first discoverer; yet he says that Vespucious knew not whether what he saw was an island, or a part of the main land. Gouin, a French commander, came to an anchor on these islands, in the year 1700, as he was returning from a voyage into the South Seas; but Gouin mistook them for Sebald’s isles, which lie very near them, Falkland’s Islands being between those, and the island of Beauchesne; so that a ship at anchor on the east side of Sebald’s isles, is within sight of Falkland’s;--Besides Beauchesne’s description of what he took to be Sebald’s, exactly answers to these; for he says there are no woods, that the country is swampy, that there are many fresh-water lakes and marshes on it, and that it abounds in ducks, snipes, wild geese, and teals.

Mons. Bougainville justly observes, that Falkland’s islands have been but little known, and ill described, till within a few years past. They are commonly represented as being covered with woods; but this mistake might very well happen in the accounts of those who only saw them from on board a ship for what are taken for woods are tall rushes, which grow very close together, and the stalk being dry to the height of five feet from the ground, a large tuft springs from the top of it, so that their number, and the manner in which they grow, form no ill resemblance of a wood. Great part of the hills on the island are covered with heath, while the rushes grow only on some small isles, and near the sea coast.

In the year 1594 Sir Richard Hawkins had sight of these islands, and called them Hawkins’s Maiden-Land: he says he saw fires on them, and that they were then inhabited: about the commencement of the present century, a French ship, called the St. Louis, came to an anchor on this coast, under the shelter of the isles of Anican, which are some small islands, so called after the privateer of that name; but the commander of the St. Louis did not think it worth his while to examine the country: yet, Mons. Bougainville observes, that the navigators of all nations have remarked how conveniently they are situated for affording shelter and refreshment to vessels bound to the South-Seas.

France having come to a resolution of sending a colony to settle on Falkland’s islands, Mons. Bougainville, towards the beginning of the year 1763, made an offer to establish the settlement at his own expence, with the assistance of two of his near relations, Mons. de Arboulin, and Mons. de Nerville. This offer being accepted, the adventrous Frenchman gave orders for the building and equipment of a vessel of twenty, and another of twelve guns, the former of which was called the Eagle, and the latter the Sphinx: and as soon as these vessels had taken in such stores as were necessary for the voyage, and for making the settlement, Mons. Bougainville, having previously engaged some acadian families, embarked his officers, seamen and settlers, and sailed from the Port of St. Malo, on the 15th of September, 1763.

In the course of the voyage he touched on the coast of Brazil, and at Montevideo, at which last place he took a number of horned cattle and horses on board, in order to stock the island to which he was destined. On the 31st of January, 1764, Mons. Bougainville was within sight of Sebald’s isles, and came to an anchor in a large bay on the eastermost point of Falkland’s islands, on the third of February.

It was soon resolved to form the settlement on the coast of this Bay; and Mons. Bougainville immediately began to take a survey of the island, to learn what it produced, for the support and convenience of life. He observes, that various kinds of water and land-fowl, and fish, were all its edible productions: and that the reader already knows that there grows no wood, either for firing, or other purposes; but this deficiency, in Mons. Bougainville’s opinion, might be tolerably well supplied by an excellent kind of turf, which was almost every where to be found in great abundance.

On the first arrival of our adventurers, it was a sight not less pleasing than astonishing, to behold the birds flock round them, with evident curiosity, but without the least signs of timidity: these harmless animals used to perch on those who were standing still, and would at all times submit to be taken with the hand: but they very soon learnt to be shy of the company of those who sought only their destruction.

The colony consisted of nineteen men, five women, and three children; and Mons. Bougainville having fixed on the spot for their residence, they lost no time in erecting huts, which they covered with rushes, to protect them from the inclemency of the weather. They likewise built a magazine, and erected a small fort, in the center of which they raised an obelisk, under which they had placed several pieces of money, and a medal, on one side of which was the head of the French king, with the following motto; _Tibi serviat ultima thule_; and on the other side of the medal was an inscription, of which the following is a translation.--“Settlement of the Isles Malouines, situated in 51 degrees 30 minutes of south latitude, 60 degrees 50 minutes west longitude, from the meridian of Paris, by the Eagle frigate, Captain P. Duclos Guyot, Captain of a fire-ship, and the Sphinx sloop; Captain F. Chenard de la Giraudais, Lieutenant of a frigate, equipped by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Colonel of infantry, Captain of a ship, chief of the expedition, G. de Nerville, Captain of infantry, and P. d’ Arboulin, postmaster general of France: construction of a fort, and an obelisk, decorated with a medallion of his Majesty Louis XV. after the plans of A. L’Huillier, engineer and geographer of the field and army, serving on this expedition; during the administration of E’. de Choiseul, Duke of Stainville, in February 1764.”

Mons. de Bougainville having promised the settlers, that he would soon bring them more companions, and give them farther assistance, his relation, Mons. de Nerville, agreed to stay till his return from France, as well to be an hostage for the performance of de Bougainville’s promise, as to encourage the young colonists, by participating in every hardship and danger to which they might be exposed, in a station so far removed from all communication with the rest of mankind. In return for Mons. de Nerville’s kind compliance with the wish of the settlers, he was to be considered as their Governor.

On the 8th of April 1764, Mons. Bougainville weighed his anchor, and sailed for Europe, having first taken possession of the islands, in the name, and for the use of his most Christian Majesty.

In the month of January 1765, Mons. Bougainville again visited Falkland’s Islands, where he found the settlers in good health, and pleased with their situation. After he had debarked the stores which he had brought for their use, he sailed to the Streights of Magellan, where he took in timber and pallisadoes, and a number of young trees for planting on Falkland’s Islands; which place he again left on the 27th of April, when the whole number of colonists was only twenty-four.

While Monsieur de Bougainville was on the above mentioned expedition in the Streights of Magellan, he saw the ships under Commodore Byron’s command; the reader will recollect this circumstance, in the account of Mr. Byron’s Voyage, related in the twenty-first page of the preceding volume.

The colonists on Falkland’s Islands were encreased to about one hundred and fifty, by a number of fresh settlers, which sailed from France in the Eagle, in the year 1765. This ship was accompanied by the Etoile store-ship, which carried provisions to the island. By this time the Governor, and an officer who took care of the stores, had good houses built of stone, and the rest of the colonists were lodged in commodious huts, having walls composed of sods of earth. With the wood which Mons. Bougainville had brought from the Streights of Magellan, they had built several small vessels, adapted to examine the coasts of the island; and three magazines were by this time erected, in which to deposit the public and private stores; several kinds of grain which had been brought from France grew very well, and promised a sufficient encrease; and some train-oil had been made, and seals-skins turned, by the settlers, with which the Eagle was loaded, and returned to France.

In the year 1766, when an English colony had settled at Port Egmont, Captain Macbride, of the Jason frigate, visited the French settlement, and, to use Mons. Bougainville’s own words, “pretended that those parts belonged to his Britannic Majesty, threatened to land by force, if he should be any longer denied that liberty, visited the Governor, and sailed away again the same day.”

The above, according to Bougainville’s account, was the state of Falkland’s islands, when the French surrendered them to Spain; and he pretends, that the prior claim of Spain was confirmed by such surrender of those who had made the first settlement: and perhaps there might be some force in this reckoning, if the prior claim of Spain was founded in justice, and warranted by the laws which have hitherto directed the discoverers of unknown countries. An Englishman, however, will be glad to see this argument stated in its proper light, by which it will appear, that the right to the possession of these islands, is undoubtedly vested in the Crown of these realms.

The plain state of facts, then, is as follows: as early as the voyage under Sir Thomas Cavendish, in the year 1592, Captain Davis had sight of these islands: they were seen a second time, in 1594, as before-mentioned by Sir Richard Hawkins, who gave them the name of Hawkins’s Maiden Land: the third person who saw them was the Dutch voyager Sebald de Waert, who called them Sebald’s Isles, and under this name they are laid down in the Dutch charts. In the year 1683 they were seen by Dampier, and, in 1689, by Strong, who gave them their present English name of Falkland Islands, which Dr. Halley, the celebrated astronomer, adopting, they are now so called in all the maps and charts of this country. During the reign of William and Mary, the English privateers often saw these islands, whereas, according to Mons. Bougainville’s own account, the first Frenchman who ever saw them was Gouin, no longer ago than the year 1700. From this state of the evidence it does not appear, that the Spaniards visited them at all, and that the French were the last visitors; yet would Mons. Bougainville have his readers believe, that the Spaniards have the prior claim to their possession, and that this claim has been ratified by the French!--This reasoning may sound admirably well in the ears of the slaves of two arbitrary monarchs, but will be equally ridiculed and contemned by every sensible subject of our happier, because limited, monarchy.

Monsieur Bougainville now proceeds to give an account of the natural history of, and other particulars respecting, Falkland’s Islands, which, he says, are the result of the observations of his kinsman, Mons. de Nerville, who resided at the settlement three years. The picture our ingenious voyager gives of the first appearance of the islands is very striking, and his arguments for and against settling them are very conclusive. On their first arrival not an object struck their view, except the commodiousness of the port in which the ship lay, which could tempt them to take up their residence on so inhospitable a shore. The land was in many places broke in upon by the sea; the mountains, unclothed with wood, had the most barren appearance; the fields looked dreary for want of houses and inhabitants; an universal silence reigned, except when the howling of some sea-monster disturbed the solemn stillness; while a dull and gloomy sameness of appearance added horror to the whole picture.

Discouraging as this scene appeared, our adventurers knew that all would yield to time and diligence, and that the labour of the industrious would not go unrequited: indeed some consolation arose in their breasts, on viewing the place in a more favourable light. The climate had that kind of temperature likely to afford health, strength, and long life, and was therefore preferable to the noxious air of those regions where the sickening inhabitant faints under the scorching heat of the vertical sun: the island produced a number of plants, admirable in the cure of the scurvy, and other disorders incident to the sailor’s life. The fish and the birds were most exquisitely delicious, and there were amphibious animals in immense numbers, while there were none of the fierce or the poisonous kind. Cascades and rivulets fell from the mountains, which at the same time sheltered the fisherman from the violence of the winds, so that he could sport or labour in the spacious bay, in perfect security: meadows of an immense extent promised constant pasturage for any number of flocks and herds, which might feed at pleasure, undisturbed by any tyrant lord of the soil. These various advantages, in the opinion of our adventurers, were sufficient to recompence them for the dangers and fatigue of the voyage, and a pledge for the full reward of their future labours.

The situation of Falkland’s Islands is between fifty-one and fifty-two degrees and a half of south latitude, and sixty-five degrees and a half of west longitude from Paris. From the entrance of the Streights of Magellan, and from the coast of Patagonia, their distance is about 250 miles.

The harbours are large, and well defended by small islands most happily disposed; and even the smallest vessels may ride in safety in the creeks: while fresh water is easily to be obtained, as the small rivers which descend from the mountains discharge themselves into the sea. The tides do not rise and fall at any stated times, but depend on the force with which the wind agitates the waves of the sea; it was, however, observed, that just before high water, the sea rises and subsides, with a quick motion, three times within the space of fifteen minutes and that at the full of the moon, and during the equinoxes and solstices, this motion is much greater than at any other time.

Those winds that blow from between the south and west, and the north and west points, prevail more than others but in general the winds vary as in most other countries. In summer time the winds usually blow from some point between the north-west and south-west. It is remarkable, that these winds rise with the rising sun, encrease in force as the sun advances to the meridian, blow most violently just at noon, decrease again with the declining sun, and totally cease about the time of its setting. The tides also frequently add to the violence of these winds, and not unfrequently change their direction.

The blowing of the winds in winter is a certain indication of the weather. If they come from the south-east, they are not so violent as the summer winds from the same quarter; but they are accompanied with slight fogs. When they blow between the south and west points, hoar frost, hail and snow, are the certain consequences; and the weather is wet and foggy, when they come from the points between the north and the west. The snow which comes with the south and west winds is but small in quantity, and commonly disappears from the ground in a day or two, except what lodges on the summits of the high mountains, where it will remain about two months. The running streams are never frozen, and the lakes and stagnate pools have seldom been covered with ice strong enough to bear the weight of a man two days together. In the spring and autumn there are slight hoar frosts, which being changed to a kind of dew by the warmth of the sun, are rather nutrimental than prejudicial to the vegetable productions. There is seldom any thunder or lightning, nor is the climate hot or cold in any extraordinary degree. Throughout the year the nights are, in general, star-light, serene, and fair; and, upon the whole, the climate is very favourable to the constitution.

The fresh water of these islands is extremely good, and in great plenty: the beds of some of the rivers are a kind of tuft, which gives a yellowish cast to the water, yet does not affect its taste; but the bottom of most of the rivers is either sand or gravel.

The depth of the soil in the vallies is more than sufficient for the purposes of plowing; but, before our adventurers could proceed to cultivation, they were obliged to extract the roots of plants, which every where interfered and choaked up the ground for near a foot deep: these roots they dried and burnt, and they then made a rich manure for the ground from which they had been cleared. Under the first land is a layer of black earth, ten inches or more in depth; under that again a yellow soil, beneath which are stones and slate; but these stones are not found on the little adjacent islands. The sea-coast is, in most places, composed of stones, which are very fit for the purposes of building; and there are beds of a hard fine grained stone, in several spots on the island; likewise another kind of stones, in which are particles of talc. Our settlers found a kind of stone which split in pieces easily, and with which they made grind-stones, to give an edge to their instruments. In the quarries they met with a stone of a yellowish hue, which, when first taken out, was so soft as to be cut with a knife; but it soon grew hard when exposed to the open air. The island likewise yeilded earth fit for making bricks and potters-ware, and plenty of sand and clay.

In many parts of the country there are marshy places, which produce a sort of rushes with sharp points, the remains of the roots of which being continually wasting, form the turf that was used for firing, which burnt exceeding well, and had nothing offensive in its smell.

A plant of the gramen kind grows on a stalk which has a sweetish flavour, and is extremely nutrimental for cattle, who like it better than any other kind of pasturage. This plant flourishes on the sea-coasts, and on the little isles, where it bends till the stalks unite, forming a kind of harbour, to which the sea-lions and the seals occasionally retreat. Our adventurers, in several excursions, found these natural built houses, a very agreeable defence against the inclemency of the weather, and the more so, as the dry leaves which had fallen off formed a bed, by no means to be despised.

The above-mentioned plant is the largest that grows on the island, which likewise produces many shrubs that were very useful in heating ovens, and other purposes of firing. A kind of heath, which grows in great plenty, bears a red fruit, which is eaten by the fowls and birds.

A plant was discovered which resembles a shrub, but having been tasted, it was thought fit for the brewing of beer: happily our colonists were supplied with malt and molasses, to which they added the beer-plant, and were enabled at all times to brew a very wholesome kind of spruce beer, which was an admirable specific for the scurvy. This plant was likewise infused in water, in which those who had contracted any illness, while out at sea, bathed themselves, and it was found to be a fine restorative: when pressed, it yeilded a mealy substance, of a fragrant smell, and a glutinous nature: the leaves of this plant are small, of a clear bright green, and dentated.

Other vegetables in abundance were found, which were used as antiscorbutics; particularly water-cresses, sorrel, wild parsley, a kind of maiden-hair, and a species of celery.

But the most extraordinary vegetable production of Falkland’s Islands, is a kind of resinous gum-plant, of which we shall speak more particularly, as it is wholly unknown in these parts of the globe. Though this is called a plant, it is without leaves, branches, or any apparent stalk and, except in colour, which is that of a bright green, it more resembles a lump of earth rising from the common surface of the ground. It does not grow to the height of more than eighteen inches, and its breadth in different plants is from two feet to two yards and upwards: the smaller plants have the form of an hemisphere, and their circumference is regular; but when they come to the full size, they terminate in irregular bunches and hollows: there are drops of a tough yellow matter, as big as a pea, on different parts of its surface, which smell like turpentine. Mons. Bougainville having cut this plant close to the ground, found that it arose from a stalk, from which grew an immense number of shoots, consisting of leaves resembling stars, laying one within the other. The outsides of these shoots, which are exposed to the air, are green, and the insides white: they contain a viscid milky juice, which is likewise found in the roots and the stalk. The roots extending horizontally, frequently produce fresh shoots at a distance, so that there is no instance of one of these plants being found alone. The resin of this plant was found to be a good medicine for the cure of slight wounds; but this resin was often washed away by the rains, or wasted by the influence of the air; yet, however contradictory it may appear, it would not dissolve except in spirits: some of the seeds were brought to Europe, in order to attempt the cultivation of so singular a curiosity in the vegetable world.

The island on which our colonists had taken up their residence is divided from east to west by a chain of hills, to the south of which they found another plant, not unlike the resinous gum-plant, which, however, did not yield any resin, but produced beautiful yellow flowers; neither was it of so firm a texture, nor was its green of the same shade; yet, in other respects, the resemblance was very strong. On the hills was found a species of Maiden-hair, which grew to a great height, and the leaves of it were shaped like the blade of a sword. The hills likewise abounded with various kinds of plants, which had the appearance of holding a middle station between stones and vegetables. It was apprehended, that these might have been successfully used in dying, and our colonists proposed to have made the experiment if they had remained longer on the island.

The place produces flowers in a considerable variety, but only one of them has any smell, which is like that of a tuberose; this flower is perfectly white. A true violet was seen, which was of a regular light yellow colour.

A fruit was found, of the size of a pea, which received the name of the lucet, from its resemblance to the North American fruit of that name: its colour is white, but the side which is exposed to the sun changes to a red: it has the smell of orange blossoms, and a very agreeable flavour: its branches, which creep along the ground, produce leaves of dark green, which are round and shining, and these leaves infused into milk give it a delicious taste: the flowers grow in large numbers on the borders of lakes, and the plant delights in a moist soil. Besides the lucet only one other fruit was found, which grows on long branches, in the same manner as the strawberry, but it has the appearance of a mulberry, which name it received, and its leaves are like those of the hornbeam.

Our colonists found but few sea-plants which they could apply to any use; but all the coast of the harbour was lined with sea-weeds, which were serviceable in breaking the force of the waves in stormy weather. Many kinds of coralines, of various beautiful colours, and a great number of curious shells and spunges were washed on shore by the force of the tides. Among the shells were the smooth and striated muscle, scallops, whelks, and a bivalve shell, of a very singular kind, named _la Poulette_.

Sea lions and seals are the only amphibious animals found in these parts; but there are great varieties of fish on the coasts, scarce any of which are known in Europe. It sometimes happens that the whales, getting too near the shore, are stranded in the bays, where their remains have been seen. Bones of great magnitude have been found far up the country, where the force of the waters could not have conveyed them, which Mons. Bougainville deems a proof that the soil is encreased, or the sea diminished.

The only quadruped found on Falkland’s island is of a species between the fox and the wolf, and our author therefore calls him the wolf-fox: the tail of this animal is more bushy than that of the wolf, and he lives in a kennel which he digs in the ground, on the downs by the sea-side. At one time of the year the wolf-fox is so lean as to appear almost starved, from whence it is imagined that he fasts for a considerable time: he is about as large as a sheep-dog, and barks very much like one, only that his yelp is not so loud. He subsists principally on wild fowl, in search of which he travels in such a direct line from one day to another, that when our adventurers first beheld his track, they imagined that the island was inhabited, and that the natives had made the path. Mons. Bougainville makes it a matter of wonder how the wolf-fox can have been conveyed to these islands, without considering, that land-animals having got on large pieces of ice, which being broken by the sea, they have frequently been conveyed to places very remote from those of their first residence. The circumstance of ice so broken from the shore is not uncommon on the coast of Greenland.

These islands and their coasts produce land and water-fowls in incredible numbers, many of which are the prey of falcons, hawks, eagles and owls; while the eggs and the young birds are destroyed by the wolf-fox.--The smaller fish are destroyed by the whales, the amphibious animals, and the voracious birds, some of which are constantly flying close over the surface of the waters, while others perch themselves on the rocks to watch the event.

Mons. Bougainville now proceeds to a description of such birds as were found on the islands, which could be applied to any kind of use; omitting those that could not be rendered serviceable to the colonists.

The swan is perfectly white, except its feet and its neck, the former of which are of a flesh-colour, and the latter as black as jet.

Of wild geese there are four kinds, only one of which feeds on dry ground. It has very high legs, and a neck of great length: its flight is much more free than that of the English goose; it walks with equal ease, and does not cackle like the common goose. The feathers of the male are white except on the wings, which have a mixture of ash-colour and black: the wings of the female are of various colours; and its body is yellow. It seldom lays more than six eggs. The flavour of these birds is agreeable, and they were found to be very nutritious: exclusive of those which are hatched on the island, large flocks fly thither with a westerly wind which blows in the autumn, so that they were generally to be taken in great abundance, and formed a principal part of the subsistence of the settlers. Those which came in the autumn were easily known from those resident on the island, by their not being shy.

The other three kinds are of various colours; yellow, white, black, and ash-colour; they are not by far so beautiful as those above described: and as they live entirely on fish, their flesh acquires a disagreeable taste; one of these three species seldom rises from the surface of the water, and is almost constantly making a very disagreeable noise. A soft thick down, either grey or white, grows under the feathers of all these geese, as it does likewise under those of the swan.

The rivers and ponds of Falkland’s islands abound in teals of two species, and two of wild ducks: of the latter some are perfectly white, and others totally black, but in other respects they resemble those of England and France. These birds are all exquisite fine food, and to be procured in any numbers. One kind of the teal is very small; but the other is as large as the duck, and its bill is blue. The bellies of some of them are also covered with feathers of a flesh-colour.