P- lS9- At half pad feven, on the 29th, they doubled Cape Horn, and entered the
South .Atlantic Ocean. This, fame Cape is the mod fouthern extremity on a
group of iilands, of unequal extent, lying before Naffau Bay, known by the
. name of the Hermite Idands, and is fttuated in the latitude of ¡ ¡ ' j8', and in
the longitude of ,68° 13’ weft.
P- 191' On the 30th they were driven by the current over to Staten Ifland; and fince
p' J92* they had explored-the fouth coaft of Terra del Fuego, Captain Cook refolved to
do the fame by that ifland, which he believed to be as little known as the
former. The foil, produce, and inhabitants of thefe parts, being fo particularly
defcribed in the foregoing Journal, only a few circumftances relative to
the birds and beafts found there will.be inferted here.
P- J95‘ . On January the ift 1775, whilft fearching for a good harbour, they difcovered
a convenient port on Staten Ifland, with feveral fmall iilands lying at the entrance
o f it. On thefe were fea lions, feals, &c. and fuch an innumerable quantity
o f gulls, as to darken the air when difturbed, and almoft to fuffocate the people
with their dung: this they feemed to void by way of defence; and it flunk
worfe than aflafoetida.
p. 203. The fea lions here are not of that kind defcribed by Lord Anfon, under the
fame name, though thefe feem rather to deferve that appellation; the long hair,
with which the back of the head, the neck and ihoulders, are covered, giving
them greatly the 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 largeft of them are about twelve or fourteen feet in length,
and eight or ten in circumference. The female is not half fo big as the male,
and.is covered with a ihort hair, of an alh or light dun colour. They live, as it
were, in herds on the rocks* and near the fea ihore. As the time the Refolution
was there, was the feafon for thefe creatures engendering; a male was fometimes
feen with twenty or thirty females about him, and always very attentive to keep
them to himfelf, beating off every other male who attempted to come into his
flock; others again had a lefs number; and fome not more than one or two.
The fea bears are not fo large by far as the lions, but rather larger than a
common
common feal; they have none of that long h&ir that 4iftinguilhe§ a lion;
theirs is all of an equal length, and finer than that of a lion, fomething like
an otter’s, and is generally of an iron grey.
The naturalifts found here two new fpecies of birds : the one is about the P> 205.
fize of a pigeon, the plumage as white as milk ; they feed along Ihore, probably
on ihell fiih and carrion, as they have a difagreeable fmell, but are not web-
footed. The other fort is a fpecies of curlews, nearly as big as a heron: it has
a variegated plumage, the principal colours whereof are light grey, and a long
crooked bill.
It is amazing to fee how the various animals, which inhabit this little fpot, P* 20®*
are mutually reconciled : they feem to have entered into a league not to difturb
each other’s tranquility, though of fuch different natures and difpofitiofis; they
were feen frequently to mix together like domeftick cattle and poultry in a farmyard,
without one fpecies attempting to moleft the other : even the eagles and
vultures feemed to content themfelves with dead carcafes, without deftroying
the living.
January the 3d, 1775, they failed from Staten Ifland, and noW launched into p.
the South Atlantic Ocean, traverfing it in various direftiOns in fearch of land,
as they had lately done in the South Pacific Océan. After1 difcovering two ¡Hands’ *.«.
which, though in the midft of fummer, were covered with ice and fnow, on
the 20th they fell in with another, between the latitudes 53” 37’ and 54° 57'
South, and between 38" 13' and 35" 34’ weft longitude. This Captain Cook
named the Ifle of Georgia,'in honour of his Majefty. It extends S. E. by E.
and N. W. by W . and is thirty-one leagues long in that direftion; and its
greateft breadth is about tenleagues. It abounds with bays and harbours, but
the vaft quantity of icè muft' render them inacceflible the greateft part of the
year : fo that this difcovery cannot be attended with any advantages.
On the 31ft, in latitude 59" 13’ 30” foüth, longitude 27" 45*.weft, the weather p. 225,
clearing up, which had been for feveral days foggy, they again difcovered land.
As this is the moft fouthern land ever yet difcovered. Captain Cobk called it
8 s Southern
217.
218.
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