JAN. 1769

INHABITANTS

61

probably travel and stay but a short time at a place, so at least it would seem from the badness of their houses, which seem all built to stand but for a short time; from their having no kind of household furniture but what has a handle, adapted either to be carried in the hand or on the back; from the thinness of their clothing, which seems little calculated even to bear the summers of this country, much less the winters; from their food of shell-fish, which must soon be exhausted at any one spot; and from the deserted huts we saw in the first bay we came to, which had plainly been inhabited but a short time previously, probably this spring. Boats they had none with them, but as they were not sea-sick or particularly affected when they came on board our ship, possibly they might have been left at some bay or inlet, which passes partly, but not entirely, through this island from the Straits of Magellan, from which place I should be much inclined to believe these people have come, as so few ships before ours have anchored upon any part of Terra del Fuego.

Their dogs, which I forgot to mention before, seem also to indicate a commerce at some time or other with Europeans, they being all of the kind that bark, contrary to what has been observed of (I believe) all dogs natives of America.

The weather here has been very uncertain, though in general extremely bad; every day since the first more or less snow has fallen, and yet the thermometer has never been below 38°. Unseasonable as this weather seems to be in the middle of summer, I am inclined to think it is generally so here, for none of the plants appear at all affected by it, and the insects which hide themselves during a snow blast are, the instant it is fair again, as lively and nimble as the finest weather could make them.1

1 Here follows a list of 104 phanerogamic and 41 cryptogamic plants collected in Terra del Fuego.

CHAPTER IV

TERRA DEL FUEGO TO OTAHITE

JAN. 21-APRIL 12, 1769

Leave Terra del Fuego-Cape Horn-Albatross and other birds, etc.—Multiplication of Dagysa—Cuttlefish-Cross the line drawn by the Royal Society between the South Sea and the Pacific Ocean-Tropic birdsOccultation of Saturn-Freshness of the water taken on board at Terra del Fuego-Speculations respecting a southern continent-Marine animals -Suicide of a marine-Scurvy-Lemon juice-Lagoon Island-King George III. Island-Means adopted for preventing the scurvy-Preserved cabbage.

21st January 1769. Sailed this morning, the wind foul; but our keeping-boxes being full of new plants, we little regarded any wind, provided it was but moderate enough to let the draughtsmen work, who, to do them justice, are now so used to the sea that it must blow a gale of wind before they leave off.

25th. Wind to-day north-west; stood in with some large islands, but we could not tell for certain whether we saw any part of the mainland. At some distance the land formed a bluff head, within which another appeared, though but faintly, farther to the southward. Possibly that might be Cape Horn, but a fog which overcast it almost immediately after we saw it, hindered our making any material observations upon it; so that all we can say is, that it was the southernmost land we saw, and does not answer badly to the description of Cape Horn given by the French, who place it upon an island, and say that it is two bluff headlands (vide Histoire des Navigat. aux terres australes, tom. i. p. 356).

FEB. 1769

ALBATROSS

63

1st February. Killed Diomedea antarctica, Procellaria lugens and turtur. The first, or black-billed albatross, is much like the common one, but differs in being scarcely half as large, and having a bill entirely black. Procellaria lugens, the southern shearwater, differs from the common kind in being smaller and of a darker colour on the back, but is easily distinguished by the flight, which is heavy, and by two fascia or streaks of white, which are very conspicuous when it flies, under its wings. Procellaria turtur, Mother Carey's dove, is of the petrel kind, about the size of a Barbary dove, of a light silvery blue upon the back, which shines beautifully as the bird flies. Its flight is very swift and it remains generally near the surface of the water. More or less of these birds have been seen very often since we left the latitude of Falkland's Island, where in a gale of wind we saw immense quantities of them.

3rd. Shot Diomedea exulans, an albatross, or alcatrace, much larger than those seen to the northward of the Straits of Le Maire, and often quite white on the back between the wings, though certainly the same species; D. antarctica, lesser black-billed albatross; D. profuga, lesser albatross, with a party-coloured bill differing from the last in few things except the bill, the sides of which were yellow, with black between them.

4th. I had been unwell these three or four days, and to-day was obliged to keep the cabin with a bilious attack, which, although quite slight, alarmed me a good deal, as Captain Wallis had such an attack in the Straits of Magellan, which he never got the better of throughout the whole voyage.

5th. I was well enough to eat part of the albatrosses shot on the 3rd; they were so good that everybody commended and ate heartily of them, although there was fresh pork upon the table. To dress them, they are skinned overnight, and the carcases soaked in salt water until morning, then parboiled, and, the water being thrown away, stewed well with very little water, and when sufficiently tender served up with savoury sauce.

9th. This morning some seaweed floated past the ship, and my servant declares that he saw a beetle fly over her. I do not believe he would deceive me, and he certainly knows what a beetle is, as he has these three years been often employed in taking them for me.

15th. Went in the boat and killed Procellaria velox, Nectris munda and fuliginosa, which two last are a new genus between Procellaria and Diomedea: this we reckon a great acquisition to our bird collection.

17th. Saw several porpoises without any "pinna dorsalis," black on the back, white under the belly and on the nose. We saw also an albatross different from any other I have seen, it being black all over, except the head and bill, which were white.

21st. A bird not seen before attended the ship; it was about the size of a pigeon, black above and light-coloured underneath. It darted swiftly along the surface of the water in the same manner as I have observed the Nectris to do, of which genus it is probably a species.

26th. Albatrosses began to be much less plentiful than they have been (lat. 41° 8′).

3rd March. Killed Procellaria velox, velificans, sordida, melanopus, lugens, agilis, and Diomedea exulans. The albatross was very brown, exactly the same as the first I killed, which, if I mistake not, was nearly in the same latitude on the other side of the continent. Caught Holothuria obtusata, Phyllodoce velella, exactly the same as those taken on the other side of the continent, except in size, which in these did not exceed that of an English sixpence. Dagysa vitrea was also the same as that taken off Rio de Janeiro; now, however, we had an opportunity of seeing its extraordinary manner of breeding. The whole progeny, fifteen or twenty in number, hung in a chain from one end of the mother, the oldest only, or the largest, adhering to her, and the rest to each other.

Among a large quantity of birds I had killed (sixty-two in all) I found two Hippobosca, or forest flies, both of one species, and different from any described. More than probably these

MAR. 1769

OCEANIC LIFE

65

belonged to the birds, and came off with them from the land. I found also this day a large Sepia, or cuttlefish, lying in the water, just dead, but so pulled to pieces by the birds that its species could not be determined. Only this I know, that of it was made one of the best soups I ever ate. It was very large; and its arms, instead of being like the European species, furnished with suckers, were armed with a double row of very sharp talons, resembling in shape those of a cat, and like them, retractable into a sheath of skin, from whence they might be thrust at pleasure.

The weather has now become pleasantly warm, and the barnacles on the ship's bottom seem to regenerate, very few of the old ones remaining alive, but young ones without number, scarcely bigger than lentils.

5th. It now begins to be very hot; thermometer 70°, and damp, with prodigious dews at night, greater than any I have felt. This renews our uncomfortably damp situation, everything beginning to mould, as it did about the equinoctial line in the Atlantic.

7th. No albatrosses have been seen since the 4th, and for some days before that we had only now and then a single one in sight, so we conclude that we have parted with them for good and all.

11th. A steady breeze had blown during the last three days, and there was no sea at all; from whence we concluded that we had passed the line drawn between the Great South Sea and the Pacific Ocean by the Council of the Royal Society; notwithstanding we are not yet within the tropics.

The

13th. I saw a tropic bird for the first time hovering over the ship, but flying very high: if my eyes did not deceive me it differed from that described by Linnæus (Phaëton aetherius), in having the long feathers of his tail red. servants with a dipping net took Mimus volutator and Phyllodoce velella, both exactly the same as those we saw in the Atlantic Ocean (lat. 30° 45', long. 126° 23′ 45′′).

15th. This night there was an occultation of Saturn by the moon, which Mr. Green observed, but was unlucky in

F