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pelargoniums of all tlie best borne varieties contrasting
pleasantly Avitli the desolation outside. The
Government Barrack, occupied hy an officer and a
company of marines, is rather an imposing structure
Avith a square toAA'er in the middle of the toAvn; and
there is a neat little Episcopal Church.
The Ealkland Islands AA'ere first seen hy Davis in
the year 1592, and Sir Hichard liaAA'kins sailed along
their north shore in 1591. In 1598 Sehald de Wert,
a Dutchman, visited them, and called them the Sehald
Islands, a name AA'hich they still bear on some of the
Dutch maps. Cajitaiii Strong sailed through hetAveen
tbe tAA'o principal islands in 1690, and called the
jiassage Ealkland Sound. In 1763 the islands Avere
taken possession of by the Erench, Avbo established a
colony at Port Louis ; they AA'ere liOAveA'er expelled
by the Spaniards in 1767 or 1768. In 1761 Commodore
Byron took possession on the part of England
on the ground of prior discoA'ery, and his doing so Avas
nearly the cause of a AA'ar betAveen EnfOfiand and
Spain, hoth countries having armed fleets to contest
the barren sovereignty. In 1771, however, Spain
yielded the islands to Great Britain by convention.
Not haA'ing heen actually colonized by us, the Republic
of Buenos Ayres claimed the islands in 1820, and
formed a settlement at tbe old Port Louis, Avbich
promised to be fairly successful, but OAving to some
misunderstanding Avitli tbe Americans it was
A ed lY tbe iatt i in 1831. After all these
vicissitudes the British flag was once more hoisted at
Port Louis in 1833, and since that time the Ealkland
Islands have been a regular British colony under a
Governor. The group Avas called by the Erench the