Voyage from Montevideo to the Malouines.
During our voyage to the Malouines, we had variable winds from N. W. to S. W. almost always stormy weather and high seas: we were obliged to try under our main-sail on the 16th, having suffered some damage. Since the 17th in the afternoon,when we came into soundings, the weather was very foggy. The 19th, not seeing the land, though the horizon was clear, and I was east of the Sebald’s isles by my reckoning, I was afraid I had gone beyond the Malouines, and therefore resolved to sail westward; the wind, which is a rare circumstance, favoured my resolution. I proceeded very fast in twenty-four hours, and having then found the soundings off the coast of Patagonia, I was sure as to my position, and so proceeded again very confidently to the eastward. Indeed, the 21st, at four o’clock in the afternoon, we discovered the Sebald’s isles, remaining inN. E. by E.N. E. by E.eight or ten leagues distant, and soon after we saw the coast of the Malouines.|Fault committed in the direction of this course.|I could have spared myself all the trouble I had been in, if I had in time sailed close-hauled, in order to approach the coast of America, and so find the islands by their latitude.
The 23d the evening we entered and anchored in the great bay, where the two Spanish frigates likewise came to an anchor on the 24th. They had suffered greatly during their course; the storm on the 16th having obliged them to bear away; and the commodore-ship, having shipped a sea, which carried away her quarter-badges, broke through the windows of the great cabbin, and poured a great quantity of water into her. Almost all the cattle they tookon board at Montevideo for the colony, died through the badness of the weather. The twenty-fifth the three vessels came into port, and moored.
The Spaniards take possession of our settlement at theMalouines.
April.
The first of April I delivered our settlement to the Spaniards, who took possession of it, by planting the Spanish colours, which were saluted at sun-rising and sun-setting from the shore and from the ships. I read the king’s letter to the French inhabitants of this infant colony, by which his majesty permits their remaining under the government of his most catholic majesty. Some families profited of this permission; the rest, with the garrison, embarked on board the Spanish frigates, which sailed for Montevideo the 27th in the morning[16].
Historical details concerning the Malouines.
Some historical remarks concerning these isles, will, I hope, not be deemed unnecessary.
Americo Vespucci discovers them.
It appears to me, that the first discovery of them may be attributed to the celebrated Americo Vespucci, who, in the third voyage for the discovery of America,sailed along the northern coasts of them in 1502. It is true, he did not know whether it belonged to an isle, or whether it was part of the continent; but it is easy to conclude, from the course he took, from the latitudes he came to, and from the very description he gives of the coasts, that it is that of the Malouines.|French and Englishnavigators visit them after him.|I shall assert with equal right, that Beauchesne Gouin, returning from the South Seas in 1700, anchored on the east side of the Malouines, thinking he was at the Sebald’s isles.
His account says, that after discovering the isle to which he gave his own name, he anchored on the east side of the most easterly of Sebald’s isles. I must first of all observe, that the Malouines, being in the middle between the Sebald’s isles and the isle of Beauchesne, have a considerable extent, and that he must have necessarily fallen in with the coast of the Malouines, as is impossible not to see them, when at anchor eastward of the Sebald’s isles. Besides, Beauchesne saw a single isle of an immense extent; and it was not till after he had cleared it, that he perceived two other little ones: he passed through a moist country, filled with marshes and fresh-water lakes, covered with wild-geese, teals, ducks, and snipes; he saw no woods there; all this agrees prodigiously well with the Malouines. Sebald’s isles, on the contrary, are four littlerocky isles, where William Dampier, in 1683, attempted in vain to water, and could not find a good anchoring-ground.
Be this as it will, the Malouines have been but little known before our days—Most of the relations report them as isles covered with woods. Richard Hawkins, who came near the northern coast of them, which he called Hawkins’s Maiden-land, and who pretty well described them, asserts that they were inhabited, and pretends to have seen fires there. At the beginning of this century, the St. Louis, a ship from St. Malo, anchored on the south-east side, in a bad bay, under the shelter of some little isles, called the isles of Anican, after the name of the privateer; but he only stayed to water there, and continued his course, without caring to survey them.
The French settle there.
However, their happy position, to serve as a place of refreshment or shelter to ships going to the South-Seas, struck the navigators of all nations. In the beginning of the year 1763, the court of France resolved to form a settlement in these isles. I proposed to government, that I would establish it at my own expence, assisted by Messrs. de Nerville and d’Arboulin, one my cousin-german, the other my uncle. I immediately got the Eagle of twenty guns, and the Sphinx of twelve, constructed and furnished with proper necessariesfor such an expedition, by the care of M. Duclos Guyot, now my second. I embarked several Acadian families, a laborious intelligent set of people, who ought to be dear to France, on account of the inviolable attachment they have shewn, as honest but unfortunate citizens.
The 15th of September I sailed from St. Malo. M. de Nerville was on board the Eagle with me. After touching twice, once at the isle of St. Catharine, on the coast of the Brasils, and once at Montevideo, where we took in many horses and horned cattle, we made the land of Sebald’s isles the 31st of January, 1764. I sailed into a great bay, formed by the coast of the Malouines, between its N. W. point, and Sebald’s isles; but not finding a good anchoring ground, sailed along the north coast; and, coming to the eastern extremity of these isles, I entered a great bay on the third of February, which seemed very convenient to me, for forming the first settlement.
Account of the manner in which it was made.
The same illusion which made Hawkins, Woods, Rogers, and others, believe that these isles were covered with wood, acted likewise upon my fellow voyagers. We were surprised, when we landed, to see that what we took for woods as we sailed along the coast, was nothing but bushes of a tall rush, standing very close together. The bottom of its stalks being dried, gotthe colour of a dead leaf to the height of about five feet; and from thence springs a tuft of rushes, which crown this stalk; so that at a distance these stalks together have the appearance of a wood of middling height. These rushes only grow near the sea side, and on little isles; the mountains on the main land are, in some parts, covered all over with heath, which are easily mistaken for bushes.
In the various excursions, which I immediately ordered, and partly made in the island myself, we did not find any kind of wood; nor could we discover that these parts had been frequented by any nation.
I only found, and in great quantity too, an exceeding good turf, which might supply the defect of wood, both for fuel, and for the forge; and I passed through immense plains, every where intersected by little rivulets, with very good water. Nature offered no other subsistence for men than fish and several sorts of land and water fowl. It was very singular, on our arrival, to see all the animals, which had hitherto been the only inhabitants of the island, come near us without fear, and shew no other emotions than those which curiosity inspires at the sight of an unknown object. The birds suffered themselves to be taken with the hand, and some would come and settle upon people that stoodstill; so true it is, that man does not bear a characteristic mark of ferocity, which mere instinct is capable of pointing out to these weak animals, the being that lives upon their blood. This confidence was not of long duration with them; for they soon learnt to mistrust their most cruel enemies.
First year.
The 17th of March, I fixed upon the place of the new colony, which at first was only composed of twenty-seven persons, among whom were five women, and three children. We set to work immediately to build them huts covered with rushes, to construct a magazine, and a little fort, in the middle of which a small obelisk was erected. The king’s effigy adorned one of its sides, and under its foundations we buried some coins, together with a medal, on one side of which was graved the date of the undertaking, and on the other the figure of the king, with these words for the exergue,“Tibi serviat ultima Thule.”[17]
However, to encourage the colonists, and encrease their reliance on speedy assistance, which I promised them, M. de Nerville consented to remain at their head, and to share the risks to which this weak settlement was exposed, at the extremity of the globe, where it was at that time the only one in such a high southern latitude. The fifth of April, 1764, I solemnly took possession of the isles in the king’s name, and the eighth I sailed for France.
Second year.
The fifth of January, 1765, I saw my colonists again, and found them healthy and content. After landing what I had brought to their assistance, I went into the straits of Magalhaens, to get a cargo of timber, palisadoes and young trees, and I began a navigation, which is become necessary to the colony. Then I found the ships of commodore Byron, who, after surveying the Malouines for the first time, passed the straits, in order to get into the South-seas. When I left the Malouines the 27th of April following, the colony consisted of twenty-four persons, including the officers.
In 1765 we sent back the Eagle to the Malouines, and the king sent the Etoile, one of his store ships, with her. These two vessels, after landing the provisions and new colonists, sailed together to take in wood in the straits of Magalhaens. The settlement now beganto get a kind of form. The governor and the ordonnateur[18]lodged in very convenient houses built of stone, and the other inhabitants lived in houses of which the walls were made of sods. There were three magazines, both for the public stores and those of private persons. The wood out of the straits had served to build several vessels, and to construct schooners for the purpose of surveying the coast. The Eagle returned to France from this last voyage, with a cargo of train oil and seals-skins, tanned in the island. Several, trials had been made towards cultivation, which gave no reason to despair of success, as the greatest part of the corn brought from Europe was easily naturalized to the country. The encrease of the cattle could be depended upon, and the number of inhabitants amounted then to about one hundred and fifty.
However, as I have just mentioned, commodore Byron came in January, 1765, to survey the Malouines. He touched to the westward of our settlement, in a port which we had already named Port de la Croisade, and he took possession of these islands for the crown of England, without leaving a single inhabitant there. It was not before 1766, that the English sent a colony to settle in Port de la Croisade, which they had namedPort Egmont; and captain Macbride, of the Jason frigate, came to our settlement the same year, in the beginning of December. He pretended that these parts belonged to his Britannic majesty, threatened to land by force, if he should be any longer refused that liberty, visited the governor, and sailed away again the same day.
Such was the state of the Malouines, when we put them into the hands of the Spaniards, whose prior right was thus inforced by that which we possessed by making the first settlement[19]. The account of the productions of these isles, and the animals which are to be found there, will furnish matter for the following chapter, and are the result of the observations of M. de Nerville, during a residence of three years. I believedit was so much more proper to enter upon this detail, as M. de Commerçon has not been at the Malouines, and as their natural history is in some regards important[20].
Detail of the natural history of the Isles Malouines.
Detail of the natural history of the Isles Malouines.
Detail of the natural history of the Isles Malouines.
A Country which has been but lately inhabited always offers interesting objects, even to those who are little versed in natural history; and though their remarks may not be looked upon as authorities, yet they may satisfy, in part, the curiosity of the investigators of the system of nature.
First aspect they bear.
The first time we landed upon these isles, no inviting objects came in sight, and, excepting the beauty of the port in which we lay, we knew not what could prevail upon us to stay on this apparently barren ground: the horizon terminated by bald mountains, the land lacerated by the sea, which seems to claim the empire over it; the fields bearing a dead aspect, for want of inhabitants; no woods to comfort thosewho intended to be the first settlers; a vast silence, now and then interrupted by the howls of marine monsters; and, lastly, the sad uniformity which reigned throughout; all these were discouraging objects, which seemed that in such dreary places nature would refuse assistance to the efforts of man. But time and experience taught us, that labour and constancy would not be without success even there. The resources with which nature presented us, were immense bays, sheltered from the violence of the winds by mountains, which poured forth cascades and rivulets; meadows covered with rich pastures, proper for the food of numerous flocks; lakes and pools to water them; no contests concerning the property of the place; no fierce, or poisonous, or importune animals to be dreaded; an innumerable quantity of the most useful amphibia; birds and fish of the best taste; a combustible substance to supply the defect of wood; plants known to be specifics against the diseases common to sea-faring men; a healthy and continually temperate climate, much more fit to make men healthy and robust, than those enchant-countries, where abundance itself becomes noxious, and heat causes a total inactivity. These advantages soon expunged the impressions which the first appearance had made, and justified the attempt.
To this we may add, that the English in their relation of Port-Egmont, have not scrupled to say, that the countries adjacent furnished every thing necessary for a good settlement. Their taste for natural history will, without doubt, engage them to make and to publish enquiries which will rectify these.
Geographical position of the Malouines.
The Malouines are situated between 51° and 52° 30′ S. lat. and 65° 30′ W. long. from Paris; and between 80 and 90 leagues distant from the coast of America or Patagonia, and from the entrance of the straits of Magalhaens.
The mapwhichwhichwe give of these islands, has certainly not a geographical accuracy, which must have been the work of many years. It may, however, serve to indicate nearly the extent of these isles from east to west, and from north to south; the position of the coasts, along which our ships have sailed; the figure and depth of the great bays, and the direction of the principal mountains[21].
Of the harbours.
The harbours, which we have examined, are both extensive and secure; a tough ground, and islands happily situated to break the fury of the waves, contribute to make them safe and easily defensible; they have littlecreeks, in which the smallest vessels can retire. The rivulets come down into the sea; so that nothing can be more easy, than to take in the provision of fresh water.
Tides.
The tides are subject to all the emotions of the sea, which surrounds the isles, and have never risen at settled periods, which could have been calculated. It has only been observed, that, just before high-water, they have three determinate variations; the sea, at that time, in less than a quarter of an hour, rises and falls thrice, as if shaken up and down; and this motion is more violent during the solstices, the equinoxes, and the full moons.
Winds.
The winds are generally variable; but still those between north and west, and between south and west, are more prevalent than the others. In winter, when the winds are between north and west, the weather is foggy and rainy; if between west and south, they bring snow, hail, and hoar frost; if from between south and east, they are less attended with mists, but violent, though not quite so much as the summer winds, which blow between south-west and north-west: these latter, which clear the sky and dry the soil, do not begin to blow till the sun appears above the horizon; they encrease as that luminary rises; are at the greatest height when he crosses the meridian; and lose their forcewhen he goes to disappear behind the mountains. Besides being regulated by the sun’s motion, they are likewise subject to be governed by the tides, which encrease their force, and sometimes alter their direction. Almost all the nights throughout the year are calm, fair, and star-light, especially in summer. The snow, which is brought by the south-west winds in winter, is inconsiderable; it lies about two months upon the tops of the highest mountains; and a day or two, at most, upon the surface of the other grounds. The rivers do not freeze, and the ice of lakes and pools has not been able to bear men upwards of twenty-four hours together. The hoar-frosts in spring and autumn do no damage to the plants, and at sun-rising are converted into dew. In summer, thunder is seldom heard; and, upon the whole, we felt neither great cold, nor great heat; and the distinction of seasons appeared almost insensible. In such a climate, where the revolutions of the seasons affect by no means the constitution, it is natural that men should be strong and healthy; and this has been experienced during a stay of three years.
Water.
The few mineral substances found at the Malouines, are a proof of the goodness of the water, which is every where conveniently situated; no noxious plants infect the places where it runs through; its bed is generally gravel or sand, and sometimes turf, which giveit a little yellowish hue, without diminishing its goodness and lightness.
Soil.
All the plains have much more depth of soil than is necessary for the plough to go in. The soil is so much interwoven with roots of plants, to the depth of near twelve inches, that it was necessary, before it was possible to proceed to cultivation, to take off this crust or layer; and to cut it, that it might be dried and burnt. It is known, that this process is excellent to make the ground better, and we made use of it. Below this first layer, is a black mould, never less than eight or ten inches deep, and frequently much deeper; the next is the yellow, or original virgin-soil, whose depth is undeterminate. It rests upon strata of slate and stones; among which no calcareous ones have ever been found; as the trial has been made with aquafortis. It seems, that the isles are without stones of this kind. Journeys have been undertaken to the very tops of the mountains, in order to find some; but they have never procured any other than a kind of quartz, and a sandstone, not friable; which produced sparks, and even a kind of phosphorescent light, accompanied with a smell of brimstone. Stones proper for building are not wanting; for most of the coasts are formed of them. There are strata of a very hard and small grained stone; and likewise other strata, more or less sloping, whichconsist of slates; and of a kind of stone containing particles of talc. There are likewise stones, which divide into shivers; and on them we observed impressions of a kind of fossil shells, unknown in these seas; we made grind-stones of it to sharpen our tools. The stone taken out of the quarries was yellowish, and not yet come to a sufficient degree of hardness, as it could be cut with a knife; but it hardened in the air. Clay, sand, and earth, fit for making potters-ware and bricks, were easily found.
Turf and its qualities.
The turf, which is generally to be met with above the clay, goes up a great way in the country. From, whatever point one sets out, one could not go a league without meeting with considerable strata of it, always easy to be distinguished by the inequalities in the ground, by which some of its sides were discovered. It continually is formed from the remains of roots and plants in marshy places; which are always known by a sharp-pointed kind of rushes. This turf being taken in a bay, near our habitation, where it shews a surface of twelve feet high to the open air, gets a sufficient degree of dryness there. This was what we made use of; its smell was not disagreeable; it burnt well, and its cinders, or embers, were superior to those of sea-coals; because, by blowing them, it was as easy to light a candle as with burning coals; it was sufficientfor all the works of the forge, excepting the joining of great pieces.
Plants.
All the sea-shores, and the inner parts of the isles are covered with a kind of gladiolus, or rather a species of gramen. It is of an excellent green, and is above six feet high, and serves for a retreat to seals and sea-lions: on our journies it sheltered us, as it did them. By its assistance we could take up our quarters in a moment. Its bent and united stalks, formed a thatch or roof, and its dry leaves a pretty good bed. It was likewise with this plant that we covered our houses; its stalk is sweet, nourishing, and preferred to all other food by the cattle.
Next to this great plant, the heath, the shrubs, and the gum-plant were the only objects that appeared in the fields. The other parts are covered by small plants, which, in moist ground, are more green and more substantial. The shrubs were of great use to us as fuel, and they were afterwards kept for heating the ovens, together with the heath; the red fruit of the latter attracted a great quantity of game in the season.
Resinous gum-plant.
The gum-plant, which is new and unknown in Europe, deserves a more ample description. It is of a bright green, and has nothing of the figure of a plant; one would sooner take it to be an excrescence of the earth of this colour; for it has neither stalk, branches,nor leaves—Its surface, which is convex, is of so close a texture, that nothing can be introduced between it, without tearing it. The first thing we did, was to sit down or stand upon it; it is not above a foot and a half high. It would bear us up as safely as a stone, without yielding under our weight. Its breadth is very disproportionate to its height; and I have seen some of more than six feet in diameter, without being any higher than common. Its circumference is regular only in the smaller plants, which are generally hemispherical; but when they are grown up, they are terminated by humps and cavities, without any regularity. In several parts of its surface, are drops of the size of pease, of a tough yellowish matter; which was at first called gum; but as it could not be dissolved, except by spirituous solvents, it was named a rosin. Its smell is strong, aromatic, and like that of turpentine. In order to know the inside of this plant, we cut it close to the ground, and turned it down. As we broke it, we saw that it comes from a stalk, whence an infinite number of concentric shoots arise, consisting of leaves like stars, enchased one within the other, by means of an axis common to all.
These shoots are white within, except at a little distance of the surface, where the air colours them green. When they are broken, a milky juice comes out ingreat abundance; which is more viscid than that of spurge[22]. The stalk abounds with the juice, as do the roots, which extend horizontally; and often at some distance send forth new shoots, so that you never find one of these plants alone. It seems to like the sides of hills; and it thrives well in any exposure. It was not before the third year that we endeavoured to know its flower and seeds, both of which are very small, because we had been disappointed in our attempts to bring it over to Europe. At last, however, some seeds were brought, in order to endeavour to get possession of so singular and new a plant, which might even prove useful in physic; as its rosin had already been successfully applied to slight wounds by several sailors. One thing deserves to be observed, namely, that this plant loses its rosin by the air alone, and the washing of the rains. How can we make this agree with its quality of dissolving in spirits alone? In this state it was amazingly light, and would burn like straw.
Beer-plant.
After this extraordinary plant, we met with one of approved utility; it forms a little shrub, and sometimes creeps under the plants, and along the coast. We accidentally tasted it, and found it had a spruce taste, which put us in mind of trying to make beer of it; we had brought a quantity of melasses and malt withus; the trials we made, answered beyond expectation; and the settlers being once instructed in the process, never were in want of this liquor afterwards, which was anti-scorbutic, by the nature of the plant; it was with good success employed in baths, which were made for sick persons, who came from the sea. Its leaves are small and dentated, and of a bright green. When it is crushed between the fingers, it is reduced into a kind of meal, which is somewhat glutinous, and has an aromatic smell.
A kind of celery or wild parsley, in great quantities; abundance of sorrel, water-cresses, and a kind of maiden-hair[23], with undated leaves, furnished as much as could be required against the scurvy, together with the above plant.
Fruits.
Two small fruits, one of which is unknown, and looks like a mulberry, the other no bigger than a pea, and called lucet, on account of the similarity it bears to that which is found in North-America, were the only ones which were to be had in autumn. Those which grew upon the bushes were good for nothing, excepting for children, who will eat the worst of fruits, and for wild-fowl. The plant on which the fruit, which we called mulberry, grew, is creeping; its leaf resembles that of the hornbeam; its branches are long, and it is propagated like the strawberry.
The lucet is likewise a creeping plant, bearing the fruit all along its branches, which are beset with little shining round leaves, of the colour of myrtle leaves; their fruits are white, and coloured red on that side which is turned towards the sun; they have an aromatic taste, and smell like orange-blossoms, as do the leaves, of which the infusion drank with milk is very pleasant to the taste. This plant is hidden among the grass, and prefers a wet soil: a prodigious quantity of it grows in the neighbourhood of lakes.
Flowers.
Among several other plants, which we found superfluous to examine, there were many flowers, but all without smell, one excepted, which is white, and has the smell of the tuberose. We likewise found a true violet, as yellow as a jonquil. It is worth notice that we have never found any bulbous-rooted plant. Another singularity is, that in the southern part of the isle we inhabited, beyond a chain of hills which divides it from east to west, it appeared that there were hardly any of the resinous gum-plants, and that in their stead we found abundance of another plant of the same form, but of a different green, wanting the solidity of the other, and not producing any rosin, but only fine yellow flowers in the proper season. This plant, which was easily opened, consisted as the other, of shoots which all spring from the same stalk, and terminateat its surface. Coming back over the hills, we found a tall species of maiden hair; its leaves are not waved, but in the form of sword blades. From the plant arise two principal stalks, which bear their seeds on the underside, like the other species of maiden hair. There were likewise a great quantity of friable plants growing upon stones, they seemed to partake of the nature of stone, and of vegetables; they were thought to be species of lichen, but the ascertaining whether they would be of use in dying, was put off to another time.
Sea plants.
As to the submarine plants, they were more inconvenient than of any use. The whole harbour is covered with sea weeds, especially near the shore, by which means the boats found it difficult to land; they are of no other service than to break the force of the waters when the sea runs very high. We hoped to make a good use of them by employing them for a manure. The tides brought us several species of coralines, which were very much varied, and of the finest colours; these, together with the spunges and shells, have deserved places in the cabinets of the curious. All the spunges have the figure of plants, and are branched in so many different ways, that we could hardly believe them to be the work of marine insects. Their texture is so compact, and their fibres so delicate, that it is inconceivable how these animals can lodge in them.
The coasts of the Malouines have provided the collections in Europe with several new shells; the most curious of which, is that calledla poulette. There are three sorts of this bivalve; and among them the striated one had never before been seen, except in the fossil state; this may prove the assertion, that the fossil-shells, found much below the level of the sea, are not lusus naturæ, and accidentally formed; but that they have really been inhabited by living animals, at the time when the land was covered by the water. Along with this shell, which is very common here, there are limpets[24]; esteemed on account of their fine colours; whelks[25], of several kinds; scallops[26]; great striated and smooth muscle-shells[27], and the finest mother of pearl.
Animals.
There is only a single species of quadruped upon these islands; it is a medium between the wolf and the fox. The land and water-fowls are innumerable. The sea-lions and seals are the only amphibia. All the coasts abound with fish, most of them little known. The whales keep in the open sea; some of them happen now and then to be stranded in the bays, and their remains are sometimes seen there. Some other bones of an enormous size, a good way up in the country, whither the force of the waves could nevercarry them, prove that either the sea is diminished, or that the soil is encreased.
The wolf-fox, (loup-renard) thus called, on account of its digging a kennel under ground, and having a more bushy tail than a wolf, lives upon the downs along the sea-shore. It attacks the wild fowls; and makes its roads from one bay to another, with so much sagacity, that they are always the shortest that can be devised; and, at our first landing on the isle, we had almost no doubt of their being the paths of inhabitants. It seems this animal fasts during a time of the year; for it is then vastly lean. Its size and make is that of a common shepherd’s dog; and it barks in the same manner, though not so loud. In what manner can it have been transported to these islands[28]?
The birds and fish have enemies, which endanger their tranquility. These enemies of the birds are the above kind of wolf, which destroys many of their eggs and young ones; the eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls.
The fish are still worse used; without mentioning the whales, which feeding, as is well known, upon fry only,destroy prodigious numbers; they are likewise exposed to the amphibious creatures, and to birds; some of which are always watching on the rocks, whilst others constantly skim along the surface of the sea.
It would require a great deal of time, and the eyes of an able naturalist, in order to describe the following animals well. I shall here give the most essential observations, and extend them only to such animals as were of some utility.
Web-footed birds.
Among the web-footed birds, the swan is the first in order; it only differs from the European one by its neck; which is of a velvet black, and makes an admirable contrast with the whiteness of the rest of its body; its feet are flesh-coloured. This kind of swan is likewise to be found in Rio de la Plata, and in the straits of Magalhaens.
Four species of wild-geese made part of our greatest riches. The first only feeds on dry land; and has, improperly, been called bustard[29]. Its high legs serve to elevate it above the tall grass, and its long neck to observe any danger. It walks and flies with great ease; and has not that disagreeable cackling cry, peculiar to the rest of its kind. The plumage of the male is white,mixed with black and ash-colour on the wings. The female is yellow; and its wings are adorned with changing colours; it generally lays six eggs. Its flesh is wholesome, nourishing, and palatable; it seldom happened that we had any scarcity of this kind of geese; for, besides these which are bred in the isle, they come in great flocks in autumn, with the east wind, probably from some uninhabited country. The sportsmen easily distinguish these new-comers, by the little fear they shew of men. The other three species are not so much in request; for they feed on fish, and get a trainy taste. Their figure is not so elegant as that of the first species; one of these kinds seldom rises above the water, and is very noisy. The colours of their feathers are chiefly white, black, yellow, and ash-colour. All these species, and likewise the swan, have a soft down under the feathers; which is white or grey, and very thick.
Two kinds of ducks, and two of teals, frequent the ponds and rivers. The former are but little different from those of our climate; some of those which we killed, were quite black, and others quite white. As to the teals, the one has a blue bill, and is of the size of the ducks; the other is much less. Some of them had the feathers on the belly of a flesh colour. These species are in great plenty, and of an excellent taste.
Here are two kinds of Divers, of a small size. One of them has a grey back, and white belly; the feathers on the belly are so silky, shining, and close, that we imagined these were the birds, of whose plumage the fine muffs are made: this species is here scarce[30]. The other, which is more common, is quite brown, but somewhat paler on the belly than on the back. The eyes of these creatures are like rubies. Their surprising liveliness is heightened and set off still more by the circle of white feathers that surrounds them; and has caused the name of Diver with Spectacles to be given to the bird. They breed two young ones at a time, which are probably too tender to suffer the coldness of the water, whilst they have nothing but their down; for then the mother conveys them on her back[31]. These two species have not webbed feet, as the other water-fowl; but their toes are separate, with a strong membrane on each side; in this manner, each toe resembles a leaf, which is roundish towards the claw; and the lines, which run from the toe to the circumference of the membrane, together with its green-colour and thinness, increase the resemblance.
Two species of birds, which were called by our people saw-bills[32], I know not for what reason, only differed from each other in size, and sometimes because there were now and then some with brown bellies; whereas, the general colour of that part, in other birds of the kind, was white. The rest of the feathers are of a very dark blueish-black; in consequence of their shape, and the close texture and silkiness of their vent feathers, we must rank them with the divers, though I cannot be positive in this respect. They have a pointed bill, and the feet webbed without any separation between the toes; the first toe, being the longest of the three, and the membrane which joins them, ending in nothing at the third toe, gives a very remarkable character. Their feet are flesh-coloured[33]. These birds destroy numbers of fish; they place themselves upon the rocks, join together by numerous families, and lay their eggs there. As their flesh is very good to eat, we killed two or three hundred of them at a time; and the abundance of their eggs offered another resource to supply our wants. They were so little afraid of our sportsmen, that it was sufficient to go against them with no better arms than sticks. Their enemy is a bird of prey, with webbed feet; measuring near seven feet from tip to tip, and having along and strong bill, distinguished by two tubes of the same substance as the bill itself, which are hollow throughout. This is the bird which the Spaniards callQuebrantahuessos[34].
A great quantity of mews, variously and prettily marked, of gulls and of terns, almost all of them grey, and living in families, come skimming along the water, and fall upon the fish with extraordinary quickness; they were so far of use to us, that they shewed us the proper season of catching pilchards; they held them suspended in the air for a moment only, and then presently gave back entire, the fish they had swallowed just before. At other seasons they feed upon a little fish, calledgradeau, and some other small fry. They lay their eggs in great quantities round the marshes, on some green plants, pretty like the water lily[35], and they were very wholesome food.
We found three species of penguins: the first of them is remarkable on account of its shape, and the beauty of its plumage, and does not live in families as thesecond species, which is the same with that described in Lord Anson’s Voyage[36]. The penguin of the first class is fond of solitude and retired places. It has a peculiar noble and magnificent appearance, having an easy gait, a long neck when singing or crying, a longer and more elegant bill than the second sort, the back of a more blueish cast, the belly of a dazzling white, and a kind of palatine or necklace of a bright yellow, which comes down on both sides of the head, as a boundary between the blue and the white, and joins on the belly[37]. We hoped to be able to bring one of them over to Europe. It was easily tamed so far as to follow and know the person that had the care of feeding it: flesh, fish, and bread, were its food; but we perceived that this food was not sufficient, and that it absorbed the fatness of the bird; accordingly, when the bird was grown lean to a certain degree, it died. The third sort of penguins live in great flocks or families like the second; they inhabit the high cliffs, where we found the saw-bills (becs-scies), and they lay their eggs there. Their distinguishing characters are, the smallness of their size, their dark yellow colour, a tuft of gold-yellow feathers, which are shorter than those of theegret[38], and which they raise when provoked, and lastly, some other feathers of the same colour, which stand in the place of eye-brows; our people called them hopping penguins, because they chiefly advance by hopping and flapping. This species carries greater air of liveliness in its countenance than the two others[39].
Three species of petrels, (alcyons) which appear but seldom, did not forebode any tempests, as those do which are seen at sea. They are however the same birds, as our sailors affirmed, and the least species has all the characters of it. Though this may be the true alcyons[40], yet so much is certain, that they build their nests on shore, whence we have had their young ones covered only with down, but perfectly like their parents in other respects. The second sort only differs from them in size, being somewhat less than a pigeon. These two species are black, with some white feathers on the belly[41]. The third sort was at firstcalled white-pigeon, on account of its feathers being all of that colour, and its bill being red: there is reason to suppose it is a true white alcyon, on account of its conformity with the other species.