Part 6

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 a long 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 call _Quebrantahuessos_[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, called _gradeau_, 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 the second 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 the egret[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 first called 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.

[Sidenote: Birds with cloven feet.]

Three sorts of eagles, of which the strongest have a dirty white, and the others a black plumage, with yellow and white feet, attack the snipes and little birds; neither their size nor the strength of their claws allowing them to fall upon others. A number of sparrow hawks and falcons, together with some owls, are the other enemies of the fowl. Their plumage is rich, and much varied in colour.

The snipes are the same as the European ones; they do not fly irregularly when they rise, and are easy to be shot. In the breeding season they soar to a prodigious height; and after singing and discovering their nest, which they form without precaution in the midst of the fields, on spots where hardly any plants grow, they fall down upon it from the height they had risen to before; at this season they are poor; the best time for eating them is in autumn.

In summer we saw many curlews, which were not at all different from ours.

Throughout the whole year we saw a bird pretty like a curlew on the sea-side; it was called a sea-pie[42], on account of its black and white plumage; its other characteristics are, a bill of the colour of red coral, and white feet. It hardly ever leaves the rocks, which are dry at low water, and lives upon little shrimps. It makes a whistling noise, easy to be imitated, which proved useful to our sportsmen, and pernicious to the bird.

Egrets are pretty common here; at first we took them for common herons, not knowing the value of their plumes. These birds begin to feed towards night; they have a harsh barking noise, which we often took for the noise of the wolf we have mentioned before.

Two sorts of stares or thrushes came to us every autumn; a third species remained here constantly, it was called the red bird[43]; its belly is quite covered with feathers of a beautiful fiery red, especially during winter; they might be collected, and would make very rich tippets. One of the two remaining species is yellow, with black spots on the belly, the other has the colour of our common thrushes. I shall not give any particular account of an infinite number of little birds, that are pretty like those seen in the maritime provinces of France.

[Sidenote: Amphibious creatures.]

The sea-lions and seals are already known; these animals occupy the sea-shore, and lodge, as I have before mentioned, among the tall plants, called gladioli[44]. They go up a league into the country in innumerable herds, in order to enjoy the fresh herbs, and to bask in the sun. It seems the sea-lion described in Lord Anson’s Voyage ought, on account of its snout, to be looked upon as a kind of marine elephant, especially as he has no mane; is of an amazing size, being sometimes twenty-two feet long, and as there is another species much inferior in size, without any snout, and having a mane of longer hairs than those on the rest of the body, which therefore should be considered as the true sea-lion[45]. The seal (_loup marin_) has neither mane nor snout; thus all the three species are easily distinguished. Under the hair of all these creatures, there is no such down as is found in those caught in North America and Rio de la Plata. Their grease or train oil, and their skins, might form a branch of commerce.

[Sidenote: Fish.]

We have not found a great variety of species of fish. That sort which we caught most frequently, we called mullet[46], to which it bears some resemblance. Some of them were three feet long, and our people dried them. The fish called gradeau is very common, and sometimes found above a foot long. The sardine only comes in the beginning of winter. The mullets being pursued by the seals, dig holes in the slimy ground, on the banks of the rivulets, where they take shelter, and we took them without difficulty, by taking off the layer of mud that covered their retreats. Besides these species, a number of other very small ones were taken with a hook and line, and among them was one which was called a transparent pike[47]. Its head is shaped like that of our pike, the body without scales, and perfectly diaphanous. There are likewise some congers on the rocks, and the white porpesse, called _la taupe_, or the mole, appears in the bays during the fine season. If we had had time, and men enough to spare, for the fishery at sea, we should have found many other fish, and certainly some soals, of which a few have been found, thrown upon the sands. Only a single sort of fresh water fish, without scales, has been taken; it is of a green colour, and of the size of a common trout[48]. It is true, we have made but few researches in this particular, we had but little time; and other fish in abundance.

[Sidenote: Crustaceous fish.]

Here have been found only three small sorts of crustacea; viz. the cray-fish, which is red, even before it is boiled, and is properly a prawn; the crab, with blue feet, resembling pretty much that called _tourelourou_, and a minute species of shrimp. These three crustacea, and all muscles, and other shell fish, were only picked up for curiosity’s sake, for they have not so good a taste as those in France.——This land seems to be entirely deprived of oysters.

Lastly, by way of forming a comparison with some cultivated isle in Europe, I shall quote what Puffendorf says of Ireland, which is situated nearly in the same latitude in the northern hemisphere, as the Malouines in the southern one, viz. “that this island is pleasant on account of the healthiness and serenity of the air, and because heat and cold are never excessive there. The land being well divided by lakes and rivers, offers great plains, covered with excellent pasture, has no venemous creatures, its lakes and rivers abound with fish, &c.” See the Universal History.

Footnote 21:

As M. de Bougainville’s map of the Malouines or Falkland’s isles, is a mere inaccurate out-line; we refer our readers to the more exact plans of these islands, published in England. F.

Footnote 22:

Euphorbia Linn. Tithymalus Tournef. F.

Footnote 23:

Ceterae Asplenium, Linn. F.

Footnote 24:

Lepas Linn.

Footnote 25:

Buccinum Linn.

Footnote 26:

Ostreæ Pectines Linn.

Footnote 27:

Mya Linn. F.

Footnote 28:

For a navigator, of Mr. Bougainville’s experience and abilities, this query is very extraordinary; and, still more so, for a man who has spent so many years in Canada, near the coasts of Labrador; and who certainly must have read accounts from Greenland, where often land-animals, on large masses of ice fixed to the shore, and broke loose by the sea, are driven into the ocean; and again landed on the shores of countries, very distant from their native home. F.

Footnote 29:

In the northern parts of America is a kind of wild goose, which was called by the French, when in possession of Canada, Outarde, or Bustard; the English call it the Canada-goose; it has been represented by Catesby, I.t. 92. Edward t. 151. and the Planches Enluminées, t. 346. Perhaps this may be the same species. F.

Footnote 30:

This bird, though the author calls it a Diver, seems, according to the description of it, to be rather the Grebe; which is so plentiful on the lake of Geneva, whose beautiful skins are drest, and made into muffs and tippets. Br. Zool. 2. p. 396. 8vo. Ed. F.

Footnote 31:

This species seems to be the white and dusky grebe. Br. Zool. 2. p. 397, and vol. 4. f. 17. F.

Footnote 32:

Becs-scies.

Footnote 33:

As far as we can guess, from this very imperfect description, the birds here mentioned seem to be of the kind called Guillemot. Br. Zool. vol. 2. p. 410. and vol. 4. t. 20. F.

Footnote 34:

The _Quebrantahuessos_ is a bird belonging to the genus called by Dr. Linnæus, _Procellaria_, or petrel; some of the sailors call it Albatross, but then we must take care not to confound the common albatross, represented by Mr. Edwards, tab. 88, which is not this Quebrantahuessos, but I believe the bird described by our author to be not yet well known by our ornithologists; and the imperfect account of Bougainville and Dom Pernetty are far from being satisfactory to natural historians. Our late great circumnavigators and philosophers will probably oblige the literary world with a drawing and account of this bird. F.

Footnote 35:

Nenuphars, Nymphæa Linn, F.

Footnote 36:

The place referred to here in Lord Anson’s Voyage is book I. chap. vii. p. 92. edit. 14th, in 8vo. 1769; but from thence, as well as from our author’s account, it is impossible to determine which species of the penguin is meant. F.

Footnote 37:

The first of these penguins seems to be that described by Mr. Pennant in the Philos. Trans. vol. lix. and represented in an accurate drawing. F.

Footnote 38:

Aigrette, a species of heron.

Footnote 39:

This last species of penguin, or auk, seems to be the same with the alca cirrhata of Dr. Pallas, Spicileg. Zool. Fasc. v. p. 7. tab. i. & v. fig. 1-3. F.

Footnote 40:

The author certainly has the noted fable of the antients in view, according to which, the alcyons had a swimming nest, and brooded at sea at a time in winter, when the weather was calm. The few calm days during which these birds were employed in brooding, were therefore called alcyonia. F.

Footnote 41:

The two petrels here mentioned seem to be the little, and the sea-swallow or frigat; the first of which is described, Br. Zool, vol. ii. p. 434, and represented, vol. iv. t. 82. The second, or swallow petrel, or frigat, is to be met with in Rochefort’s Voyage, t. 135. Dr. Linnæus calls the first procellaria pelagica, the latter the fregatta, and, if I am not mistaken, the third kind here mentioned, is, the fulmar, Br. Zool, vol. ii. p. 431. and vol. iv. t. 82. Dr. Linnæus’s Procellaria glacialis. F.

Footnote 42:

The sea-pie is sometimes called oyster-catcher, because this bird forces the shells open with its bill, which are left bare on the shore, at the recession of the tide. Br. Zool, vol. iv. p. 376, Dr. Linnæus’s Hæmatopus Ostralegus. F.

Footnote 43:

This seems to be the American red-breast, or turdus migratorius, Linn. and Kalm’s Voyage, vol. ii. p. 90, where likewise a figure of it is given. F.

Footnote 44:

Glayeuls.

Footnote 45:

The animal here mentioned as the true sea-lion exceeds the sea-lion described in Lord Anson’s Voyage; for this is twenty-five feet long, and that in the isle of Juan Fernandes only twenty. See Voyage aux Isles Malouines, par Dom Pernetty. F.

Footnote 46:

Muge ou mulet.

Footnote 47:

Brochet transparent.

Footnote 48:

This kind of trout has been likewise mentioned in a pamphlet published last winter about the Falkland isles. F.

_CHAP. V._

_Navigation from the Malouines to Rio-Janeiro; junction of the Boudeuse with the Etoile.—Hostilities of the Portuguese against the Spaniards. Revenues of the king of Portugal from Rio-Janeiro._

[Sidenote: 1767. June. Departure from the Malouines for Rio-Janeiro.]

I waited, in vain, for the Etoile, at the Malouines; the months of March and April had passed, and that store-ship did not arrive. I could not attempt to traverse the Pacific Ocean with my frigate alone; as she had no more room than what would hold six months provision for the crew. I still waited for the store-ship, during May. Then seeing that I had only two months provisions, I left the Malouines the second of June, in order to go to Rio-Janeiro; which I had pointed out as a rendezvous to M. de la Giraudais, commander of the Etoile, in case some circumstances should prevent his coming to join me at the Malouines.

During this navigation, we had very fair weather. The 20th of June, in the afternoon, we saw the high head-lands of the Brasils; and, on the 21st, we discovered the entrance of Rio-Janeiro. Along the coast we saw several fishing-boats. I ordered Portuguese colours to be hoisted, and fired a cannon: upon this signal one of the boats came on board, and I took a pilot to bring us into the road. He made us run along the coast, within half a league of the isles which lie along it. We found many shoals every where. The coast is high, hilly, and woody; it is divided into little detached and perpendicular hillocks, which vary their prospect. At half an hour past five, in the afternoon, we were got within the fort of Santa-Cruz; from whence we were hailed; and at the same time a Portugueze officer came on board, to ask the reason of our entering into port. I sent the chevalier Bournand with him, to inform the count d’ Acunha, viceroy of the Brasils, of it, and to treat about the salute. At half an hour past seven, we anchored in the road, in eight fathoms water, and black muddy bottom.

[Sidenote: Discussion concerning the salute.]

The chevalier de Bournand returned soon after; and told me, that, concerning the salute, the count d’ Acunha had answered him, that if a person, meeting another in a street, took off his hat to him, he did not before inform himself, whether or no this civility would be returned; that if we saluted the place, he would consider what he should do. As this answer was not a sufficient one, I did not salute. [Sidenote: Junction with the Etoile.] I heard at the same time, by means of a canoe, which M. de la Giraudais sent to me, that he was in this port; that his departure from Rochefort, which should have been in December, had been retarded till the beginning of February; that after three months sailing, the water which his ship made, and the bad condition of her rigging, had forced him to put in at Montevideo, where he had received information concerning my voyage, by means of the Spanish frigates returning from the Malouines; and he had immediately set sail for Rio-Janeiro, where he had been at anchor for six days.

This junction enabled me to continue my expedition; though the Etoile, bringing me upwards of fifteen months salt provisions and liquor, had hardly for fifty days bread and legumes to give me. The want of these indispensable provisions, obliging me to return and get some in Rio de la Plata; as we found at Rio-Janeiro, neither biscuit, nor wheat, nor flour.

[Sidenote: Difficulties raised by the Portuguese against a Spanish ship.]

There were, at this time, two vessels in this port which interested us; the one a French, and the other a Spanish one. The former, called l’Etoile du Matin, or the Morning Star, was the king’s ship bound for India; which, on account of its smallness, could not undertake to double the Cape of Good Hope during winter; and, therefore, came hither to wait the return of the fair season. The Spanish vessel was a man of war, of seventy-four guns, named the Diligent, commanded by Don Francesco de Medina. Having sailed from the river of Plata, with a cargo of skins and piastres; a leak which his ship had sprung, much below her water-line, had obliged him to bring her hither, in order to refit her for the voyage to Europe. He had been here eight months; and the refusal of necessary assistance, and the difficulties which the viceroy laid in his way, had prevented his finishing the repair: [Sidenote: Assistance which we gave her.] accordingly, Don Francisco sent the same evening that I arrived, to beg for my carpenters and caulkers; and the next morning I sent them to him from both the vessels.

[Sidenote: The viceroy visits us on board the frigate.]

The 22d we went in a body to pay a visit to the viceroy; he came and returned it on the 25th; and, when he left us, I saluted him with nineteen guns, which were returned from the shore. On this visit, he offered us all the assistance in his power; and even granted me the leave I asked, of buying a sloop, which would have been very useful, during the course of my expedition; and, he added, that if there had been one belonging to the king of Portugal, he would have offered it me. He likewise assured me, that he would make the most exact enquiries, in order to discover those, who, under the very windows of his palace, had murdered the chaplain of the Etoile, a few days before our arrival; and that he would proceed with them according to the utmost severity of the law. He promised justice; but the law of nations was very ineffectually executed at this place.