im . if a paffage might riot have been made from Eaft.to Weft in
]an“‘'y' ■ a:S fhort a time as-from Weft to kaft ; nor did we experience .
any cold weather. The mercury in the thermometer at
noon was never below 46°$ and, while we lay in Chriftmas
Sound, it was generally above temperate. At this place, the
variation was 33° 30' Eaft; a few leagues to the S. W. of
Strait Le Make it was 240; and at anchor, within New
Year’s Ifles, it was 240 20' Eaft.
Thefe ifles are, in general, fo unlike Staten Land, efpecially
the one on which we 'landed, that it defèrves a particular
defcription. It Ihews a furface of equal height, and elevated
about thirty or forty feet above the Tea, from which it is
defended by a rocky coaft. The inner part of thé ifle is
covered with a fort o f fword-grafs, very green, and o f a great
length. It grows On little hillocks, of two or three feet in
diameter, and as many Or more in height, in large tufts,
which feemed to be cömpófed of thé roots of the plant
matted together. Among thefe hillocks- are a vaft number
of paths made by fea-bêars and penguins, by which they
retire into the centre of the ifle. It is, neverthelefs, exceedingly
bad travelling; for thefe paths are fo dirty that one'is
fometimes up to the knees in mire. Belides this plant, there
- are a few other grafie s ;' a kind of heath, arid fome celery.
The whole furface is moift and wet, and on the coaft are fe-
veral fmall ftreams of water. The fword-grafs, as I call it,
feems to be the fame that grows in Falkland Ifles, defcribed
by Bougainville as a kind of gladiolus, or rather a fpecies of
gramen *, and named by Pernety, corn-flags.
The animals found on this little fpot are fea-lions, fea-
bears, a variety of oceanic, and fome land birds. The fea-
lion is pretty well defcribed by Pernety; though thofe we
faw here have not fuch fore-feet or fins as that he has,given
* See Englifh Tranflationlof Bougainville, p. 51.
a plate
a plate of, but fuch fins as that which he calls the fea- j ’ZJJj,-
wolf. Nor did we fee any of the fize he fpeaks of; the 1---- .—
largeft- not being more than twelve or fourteen feet in
length, and perhaps eight or ten in circumference. They
are not of that kind defcribed, under the fame name, by
Lord Anfon ; but, for aught I know, thefe would more properly
deferve that appellation ; the long hair, with which
the back o f the head, the neck and Ihoulders, are covered,
giving them greatly the air and appearance of a lion. The
other part of the body is covered with a Ihort hair, little
longer than that of a cow or a horfe ; and the whole is a
dark brown. The female is not half fo big as the male, and
is covered with a fhort hair of an afh> or light dun colour.
They live, as it were in herds, on the rocks, and near the
fea-fhore. As this was the time for engendering as well as
bringing forth their young, we have Teen a male with
twenty or thirty females about him, and always very attentive
to keep them all to himfelf, and beating off every .other
male who attempted tq come into his flock. Others again
had a lefs number ; fome no more than one or two ; and
here and there we have feen one lying growling in a retired
place, alone, and fuffering neither males nor females -to approach
him : we judged thefe were old and fuperannuated.
The fea-bears are not fo large, by far, as -the lions, but
rather larger than a common feal. They'have none of that
long hair which diïüriguifhes thé 3 ion, : Theirs-is all o f an
equal length, and -finer than t-hat of the lion, Yomething like
an otter’s and the general colour is that of iron g-rey... This
is the kind which the French call, fea-wolfs, and the Englifli
feals : they are, however, different from the deals we have
in Europe and in North America. The lions may too, without
any great impropriety, be called over-grown feals ; for
D d 2 , they
I