FALKLAND ISLANDS, a group of islands in the Atlan tic Ocean, situated at the utmost extremity of South Ame rica, and about 80 leagues from the straits of Magellan. Two of them arc of considerable extent, being more than 70 leagues in circumference ; and lie between 10' and 52° South Latitude, and between 58° and 62° West Lon gitude. These Islands were first seen by Captain Davis, who sailed under Sir Thomas Cavendish in 1592 ; next by Sir Richard Hawkins in 1594, who called them Haulkin's Maidenland, in honour of Queen Elizabeth ; in the year 1598, by Sebald de Wert, who named them Sebald's isles, and they are so designed in all the Dutch charts ; in 1683, by Dampier, and probably about the same time by Cow ley ; in 1689, by Strong, who gave them their present ap pellation in honour of Viscount Falkland ; in 1699, by a Frenchman named Beauchesne Gouin; and in 1721, by Roggewin, a Mecklenburgher in the Dutch service, who circumnavigated the whole group, and called it Belgia Aus tralis. The Dutch mistaking the numerous capes for por tions of different islands, gave to the whole the designation of New Islands; the French generally call them Malouines, from the people of St Malocs, whom they wish to consider as the first discoverers. The navigators of the last men tioned nation were, without question, the first settlers on these islands, when their government, after the loss of Ca nada, in 1763, selected them as a new American settlement, particularly as a place of shelter and refreshment for ves sels bound to the South Seas. A colony of Acadian fami lies, above twenty-seven persons in all, was carried thither in 1764, by Commodore Bougainville; and in the following year, by the addition of new colonists, the number of inha bitants amounted to about 150. In the beginning also of the year 1765, Commodore Byron, in conformity to his in structions, took possession of these islands in the name of his Britannic Majesty ; and a British colony was settled, the year after, in Port Egmont, by Captain Macbride, who circumnavigated the whole coast. But they were soon found to be of very little value, particularly from the total want of wood ; and first the French ceded their settlement to the Spaniards in 1767, and the English abandoned theirs in 1774. They are now employed by the Spaniards as a receptacle for criminals from their American dominions.
The two largest of these islands are separated by a chan nel about twelve leagues in length, and one to three in breadth ; and were furnished with the most secure and ca pacious harbours. Port Egmont, on the north one coast of the largest island, is described by Byron, as one of the . _ finest havens in the world, and as capable of containing the whole British navy in perfect security. The general as pect of the coast is rocky and desolate ; and no kind of wood has been found on any part of the islands. They appeared to the first navigators, while sailing along the shores, to be completely covered with trees ; but these, upon a nearer approach, Were discovered to be nothing but bushes of tall rushes and reeds, which grow in clusters to the height of three feet, and then shoot out other stalks about six or seven feet in length. The higher lands are covered with heath, and there is great abundance of excel lent turf for fuel, capable even of supplying sufficient heat to a forge. There is no appearance whatever of those is lands having ever been inhabited previous to their disco very by Europeans; and the navigators, who first landed upon their shores, found the animals so unacquainted with man, that the birds suffered themselves to be taken with the hand, and even settled upon the heads of the people when they stood still. The surface is marshy, and the soil is compo sed first of a thick turf, then a black mould, from eight to twelve inches deep, and next a yellowish clay, resting upon strata of slate and stone. In most places on he coast is stone fit for building ; and, in the interior, there is earth capable of being manufactured into bricks and pot ter's ware. The rocks are chiefly of quartz, with some pyrites, and marks of copper. Red and grey slate, and different kinds of ochre, are common ; but no mines or metals have been discovered. The climate is temperate and salubrious, free from the extremes of heat or cold; but there are frequent rains and stormy winds in all seasons of the year. The running streams are never frozen ; and the ice on the lakes and pools is seldom sufficiently strong to bear the weight of a man, above tIsenty-four hours in succes sion. Snow remains upon the tops of the highest moun tains about two months in winter ; but seldom above a day or two in the lower grounds. The hoar frosts in spring and autumn occasion no injury to the plants, but, being thawed by the sun, are converted into a refreshing dew.
Thunder is seldom heard in summer; but, even during that season of the year, the winds arc almost uniformly violent ; and, from the want of fuel and shelter, all the settlers have suffered greatly from cold. A remarkable pecidiarity has been observed in the tides, which do not rise at settled periods subject to calculation ; but just before high water, the sea, in less than a quarter of an hour, rises and falls three times, as if shaken up and down, and this motion is always more violent during the solstices, equinoxes, and full moons. The surface of the ground is partially covered with turf, shrubs, and a variety of plants. The turf, which is found chiefly above the clay soil, is formed of the roots and remains of plants in marshy situations, and is frequently seen in strata of considerable thickness. The meadows, which are of great extent, and watered with numerous rivulets from the hills, afford abundance of excellent pasturage. One of the most common grasses grows to the height of six feet, and furnished the colonists with an excellent thatch for their houses, while its stalk, which was very sweet and nourishing, was preferred by the cattle to every other kind of food. The resinous gum plant is the most conspicuous and curious of the vegetable productions. It is of a bright green colour ; but, having neither stalk, branches, nor leaves, it is more like an excressence fVom the eat th than a plant. It is only about a foot and a half in height, but frequently more than six feet in diameter ; and so firm in its texture, as to bear the weight of a man without yield ing to the pressure. On its surface are drops of a tough yellowish matter, about the size of pease, resembling rosin, and of a strong aromatic smell like turpentine. A small shrub, creeping close to the ground, was discovered to possess the taste of spruce fir ; and, being made into beer with molasses, proved a powerful antiscorbutic. I Lem are great quantities also of wild parsley, wood-sorrel, and wa ter-cresses, which provide a valuable relief to those \SIR, are afflicted with the scurvy. The only fruits found upon these islands, capable of being used as food, arc a small berry about the size of a pea, resembling the lucet of North America, and another similar to the mulberry, both of which grow upon creeping plants. Among numerous flowers, only one appeared to yield any perfume, and its smell resembled that of the tube-rose. The shores are co vered with sea-weeds so strong and thick as almost t(, prevent the landing of a boat. The tides throw up several coralines, the finest mother-of-pearl, sponges of the most compact texture and delicate fibre, and a variety of shells, of which the most curious is a bivalve called /a poulette, said to be found no where else except in a fossil state. Only one species of quadruped was observed on these islands, called the wolf fox, from its resemblance to both these animals. It is about the size of a common shepherd's clog, with very long sharp fangs ; and barks in the same manner, but not so loud. It digs a kennel under ground, and preys upon the wild fowls and seal. Great number.; of these animals were seen by Byron, who describes them as remarkably fierce, running even from a great distance to attack the sailors, and plunging into the sea after the boats. The coasts abound with seals and walrusses or sea lions, many of which are of an enormous size, and also very formidable from their ferocity and strength. Land and water fowls are found in great numbers and variety. The most remarkable are swans with necks of a velvet black colour, flesh-coloured feet, and white bodies ; wildgeese, one species of which, similar to the Canada goose, feeds chiefly on dry land, and affords a wholesome and pa latable food; ducks and teals, resembling those of Europe ; a species ofgrebe, of the most beautiful plumage, and eyes like rubies, surrounded with a circle of white feathers; a kind of guillemot, whose flesh is very good to eat, and which the colonists destroyed in great quantities, merely with sticks in their hands ; a species of penguin, distin guished by its stately gait, its beautiful plumage, and so litary habits ; different kinds of petrels, small eagles, fal cons, owls, snipes, curlews, herons, the ushes, cc. There were few kinds of fish taken by the settlers and naVigators, but the most common were mullet, gradcau, sardine, trans parent pike, and flesh water trout of a green colour, with out scales. There is no want of muscles, crayfish, crabs, shrimps, and other small shell-fish; but they were found very inferior to those of Europe in taste. See Byron's Voyage round the florid in 1764, Lo'c.; Bougainville's Voy age in 1766 ; Pernetty's History of a Voyage to the Maloii ines. (q)