ing along the beach "at his own sweet will" (an enjoyment seldom permitted to pigs), punished the vagabond by knocking him over in fine style at a distance of sixty yards, with no better weapon than a short ship's musket. This exploit set us all agog for pork-a delicacy which we esteemed the more, as relieving us from the toujours bœuf. Being thus haunted with delectable visions of griskins, spare-ribs, chines, blackpuddings, sausages, &c., we planned, in our enthusiasm, an attack on the swine. To secure such a culinary luxury was an affair of serious importance, and we set about it seriously in the following manner; viz., first, a man with a boat's flag stuck on a boat-hook marched down the centre of the tussock; and though he himself was invisible in consequence of the great height of the leaves, his banner flaunted gaily above, and was plainly visible to all. Every now and then he sounded a little huntinghorn, which was responded to by hearty cheers from six men on either side, inspired by love of pigmeat, and armed with boarding-pikes, who were so spread out as to take up nearly the whole breadth of the island, thrashing and hallooing with all their might. About two hundred yards in advance stood myself, rifle in hand, backed by my boy with another gun; and on each side of me, at about eighty yards, were two of our best shots. "The deuce is in it," thought I, exultingly, "if we shan't revel in pork now, both fresh and to pickle." It was an invigorating anticipation. On came the beaters with shouts of expected triumph. They were formed, like the Spanish Armada, in a half-moon, the horns rather in advance; but, also like that redoubtable armament, our present enterprise ended in a ludicrous failure. The pigs were so stupid (poor wild, benighted creatures!) that they would not come to be killed and cooked. Our exquisite generalship was thrown away: we bagged only one little boar, and even that exploit was owing not to human but to canine agency. La Porte had seized the straggler firmly by the back, and held him there, squeaking terribly, till we came up and captured him alive. But though we could not achieve a success adequate to our gallant preparation and array of force, we consoled ourselves in the reflection that we had "done more-deserved it."

During our pig-hunt we were tantalised every moment by a clownish penguin, which would first pop out his head to survey us, and then stalk close by with grave and silent content. He evidently saw that the swine would outwit us, and participated in the triumph of the quadrupeds.

At length, a desperate rustling gave notice that something large was at hand; and immediately after, to our infinite disappointment, for we had calculated on the advent of a good fat hog, out waddled a sea-lion. The beast's huge logger-head was hardly visible, when it formed a target for our guns, of all which the contents crashed into his skull nearly at the same moment. Down he dropped immediately, and only showed that life remained by writhing for a few minutes.

On one of our excursions ashore, the following singular circumstance occurred. I have read in medical and other works instances of a similar nature-never witnessed one before. We had breakfasted early and hastily one morning, in order to have a long day before us, and at seven o'clock landed for beef. Having walked three hours, we wounded and, after a running skirmish of two miles, killed a fine cow. This was very fatiguing work. We then rested a short time, and began to retrace our

steps towards the shore, in doing which we shot a calf, thus adding considerably to our load. As I had only five persons with me, I did not take the usual precautions for keeping my party together; and, on stopping to rest, I found that a portly marine was missing. Taking the least tired of my men, I went back some distance to look for the absentee; and having paced two weary miles, was nearly giving up the search, when we observed a flock of caranchos poised nearly motionless in air. My companion shrewdly judged that the birds were balancing themselves over our lost one; and, on going up to the place, I found his suspicions correct. The marine was lying on his face as if fast asleep, while a couple of caranchos sat watching him within two feet of his head. Thinking this was only a lazy fit, and being tired and angry, I brought the whole weight of my rifle down on a well-covered part of his frame, causing, to my surprise, only a deep groan; and we ascertained that the fat lout had lost all power of movement, and could not even lift his arm. We were, therefore, under the necessity of carrying his heavy body back to our party, who were then at least six miles from the beach. On our arrival there, we tried to recover him; but, as he did not appear to mend, we were obliged by turns to carry him the whole way-and weary work it was. We did not get in sight of the vessel till past seven o'clock in the evening. The people on board, feeling rather alarmed at our protracted absence, luckily kept a good look out, and a boat was on shore nearly as soon as we arrived on the beach.

I

Having seen the patient, our doctor said that nothing but food would restore him; an opinion borne out by the fact, inasmuch as the man was as well as ever after a good meal. His total prostration up to this time forcibly impressed me, as he was a young and powerfully built man. afterwards learned that this was not a very uncommon case, when violent and long-continued exercise was combined with an empty stomach. Had the man been left all night in the wilderness, he would, in all probability, have died. As it was, we lost, through the marine's illness, our calf and the prime parts of the cow which we intended to carry on board. When first we arrived at the Falklands I used almost to laugh at one of the orders given by Captain Sulivan, that no one belonging to the vessel should be allowed to go on shore without a companion; an order which I understand was rigidly enforced by Captain Fitzroy, whilst in command of the Beagle, which was only once broken, and then ended fatally. I am now convinced that it is a very necessary precaution, and, if strictly acted on in all uninhabited or unknown countries, would be the means of saving many valuable lives. Two or three instances have lately occurred of persons going out to shoot in health and spirits, and being found dead the following morning. Exhaustion and exposure to the weather have, in most cases, produced these melancholy results; but with common prudence and a companion there is little or nothing to fear, especially if one is well armed-a practice which I earnestly recommend to all persons who are desirous to return home with a whole skin.

As I was a passable shot, and an untiring pedestrian, I was invited by Captain Sulivan to accompany him to the top of Mount Pleasant, a hill about eight miles distant from our anchorage. The morning of November 30th being beautiful and calm, we determined to set out, and accordingly started after an early breakfast, having two men with us to carry

our instruments, &c. For the first half-mile we amused ourselves very well with shooting snipe, &c.; but we were speedily warned by the bellowings all round us that we should keep more on our guard, which we instantly obeyed, by loading our guns with ball and keeping close together. Thus prepared, we advanced about a mile farther, when four bulls drew out of a herd and manifested symptoms of resenting our invasion of their territory. Not liking the look of the enemy, we slunk back a short distance, and made a détour of nearly two miles to get clear. La Porte, however, suddenly dashed away, and for nearly twenty minutes was lost to us-much to our vexation, as he was a most puissant ally. Our pleasure, therefore, was proportionately great when we perceived him driving towards us a little calf, baa-ing most pitiably. The moment he was near enough, La Porte seized the animal's nose, and held it until we came up. Our first impulse was to let the poor thing go; but the dog, in his anxiety to secure his prey, had broken the upper jaw, and we therefore put an end to the creature's sufferings by killing it, marking the spot, that we might pick it up on our return.

After this, we marched on through the wilderness, still in battle array, and dispersed a small herd, out of which the dog captured another calf, but which, being uninjured, we let go again. At length we came to the bank of a large lake, whose wide unruffled gleam, quietly reflecting the sky, made the solitude look more solitary. Through this sheet of water we in vain attempted to wade, and were finally compelled to walk round its shore-a great addition to the fatigue of our journey, which, though in a straight line not more than eight miles, amounted, by these necessary deviations, to thirteen or fourteen, and principally among long, soft, springy grass eighteen inches high.

About one o'clock at noon, we reached the base of the mount, and sat down beside a streamlet winding along the bottom. After recovering a little from our fatigue, we commenced our ascent, and crossed once or twice a long line of those stones mentioned with much surprise by every traveller in this region. Some were so large that we could not have got on them without the help of a ladder. But what struck me most was, that when half-way up, we could hear, on listening intently, a stream rapidly running, and by the deadened noise, evidently some feet below the surface. Half-an-hour's more toil brought us to the top of the mount; but here our progress was arrested by a perpendicular wall of rock running to the height of nearly three hundred feet. After a long search, we found a practicable breach, and leaving our guns and other heavy articles behind, we scrambled up as well as we could-no easy matter, both from the nature of the rock and the incumbrance of the theodolite stand, which we intended to erect so as to take a round of angles from the very summit. At length we gained the apex, but so sharp was it that we could not fix the stand, and were obliged, crosslegged, to drag ourselves over a short ridge to a better place. This was rather nervous work, for my left leg hung over the perpendicular wall as completely at right angles with the surface of the earth as if it had been built with a plumb-line.

Here we had room to fix the stand, preparatory to making the "observations." We had now a perfect bird's-eye view of nearly the whole of the southern part of the east island from the range of Wickham Heights.

The prospect was grand on account of its extent, though I could not have imagined anything so apparently barren and comfortless: the grass seemed everywhere brown and parched, and innumerable lakes of all forms and sizes gave, with their wan gleam, a melancholy effect to the view. I tried several times, without success, to count the cattle in sight; but, after repeated attempts, gave up the endeavour. The temperature was bitterly cold, although a dead calm; and large icicles were hanging in various fantastic shapes from all the overhanging points of rock.

Before leaving the vessel, we had made arrangements with Mr. Bodie (the master) that we should announce our arrival on the summit of the rock by lighting a fire, the smoke of which would direct him to let fall the topsail, and to fire a gun, exactly five minutes after (to a second). By this sound we expected to get the distance. Collecting what material we could for ignition, and having settled ourselves in comfortable positions to watch with our Dollonds, the word was given to light the fire. In a moment a small column of smoke slowly ascended. (We afterwards heard that the effect, as seen from the vessel, was beautiful; the vapour being visible to the naked eye, and ascending like a tiny thread from the very peak of the mountain to a great height, until dissipated by the upper currents of air.) No sooner was this seen, than it was responded to by a dozen diminutive objects, descried through our glasses, climbing up the rigging like ants. A moment after, a small speck of white became visible, which announced to us the fall of the topsail. As the second-hand of Captain Sulivan's chronometer reached the five minutes, a thin puff of smoke appeared to spurt out of the vessel's side. All was now attention to catch the sound; but we were too far off.

During the time we remained up here, not a single noise disturbed the death-like silence, neither was the solitude invaded by any other living object than ourselves, excepting that a huge eagle alighted to plume himself on a pinnacle within twelve yards of the theodolite.

After descending with some trouble, we picked up our guns, &c., and commenced our return. The homeward journey was a painful one; as our two men, not being accustomed to such long walks, were knocked up, and the wild cattle, as though they knew we were fatigued, were bolder and fiercer than in the morning. One beast chased us to the edge of a morass, in which we were glad to take refuge. Finding from the nature of the ground that he could not get at us, he worked himself up into a state of madness, which was not at all allayed by a couple of ounces of lead which we sent into his body. Not wishing to be benighted, we hastened on, and having found the calf we had killed in the morning, got safely on board at seven o'clock to a capital dinner, of which the only fault was a total absence of vegetables.

A succession of heavy south-west gales, with snow and sleet, put a stop, during five days, to all out-of-door work. In the evenings we were much at a loss how to find amusement, as all the books in the ship had been read and re-read dozens of times. I hardly know how we should have diverted the tædium vitæ, had I not, before leaving England, luckily provided myself with several single-sticks and hilts from my esteemed friend Mr. H. Angelo, of whom I am proud to acknowledge myself a pupil; and whose skill in the art of offence and defence in the

use of the broadsword is above that of any other professor I ever met with. Our people took great delight in this exercise; and, by imparting the knowledge I had acquired under Mr. Angelo, I so trained my men, that I flatter myself few of H. M. ships could have turned out a crew equal to the Arrow's ship's company in expertness with that thoroughly English weapon, the broadsword.

We were now beset by a succession of heavy gales. I only landed once, and that was abreast the vessel for an hour or two. With the assistance of the crew I managed to haul our little dingy over a small bank, and launch her again in a fresh-water lake, where in a very short time we bagged upwards of sixty teal, and double the number of various other birds not mentioned in the game-list.

On Sunday, the 10th of December, the gale had increased prodigiously. It was well for the little ship, which rode to three anchors, that the holding-ground and our ground-tackle were so good, for, with all our precautions, and though nothing was left to hold wind but the bare lower masts and hull, we were in momentary fear of going adrift. We could hardly hear the church service performed, even on the lower deck, with the hatches down, so loud was the roaring of the gale.

About sunset, as usual, the wind gradually sank to a hoarse murmur, and at midnight we had fine weather once more, the stars shining as brilliantly as if within the tropics. Such sudden alterations form one of the marked peculiarities of the Falklands.

The next morning, some time after the surveyors had departed, I was much surprised by observing a large column of smoke rising several miles to the southward. This, naturally enough, caused great excitement amongst us, as we knew our party had gone in an opposite direction. So strange an incident in an uninhabited island brought to my recollection Robinson Crusoe's discovery of the foot-print of a man on the desolate sea-shore. All manner of conjectures were hazarded, and truly some of them were wild enough. The next morning, as soon as I could spare them, I sent off four steady fellows, well armed; but nothing could they discover save the remains of a fire, a few singed feathers, and a very old-fashioned rusty hatchet without a handle. Imagining some shipwrecked mariners might be near, we fired a blue light as soon as it was dark, and then a sky-rocket, but without any result. Who could the adventurers have been?

Two days more were sufficient to finish the Choiseul Sound, and early on the following morning we sent both our boats sounding down towards the entrance. At two o'clock we followed them in the vessel. About twelve miles from the mouth of the sound we perceived a splendid little harbour on the northern shore, where we anchored for the night, intending to leave the next morning; but unsettled and tempestuous weather detained us several days, which, though a grievous infliction to us at the time, was pleasant in its results, as we had a most gallant and satisfactory campaign in our Wild Sports in this part of the Falklands.