Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

146 BOUGAINVILLE HAUBOUR. Juiie 1828. at the Falkland Islands. Captain Stokes says of this place : "After seeing the abundant supplies of timberwhich Freshwater Bay and Port Famine afford, I had shared in the surprise which Byron expresses, that any one should have come so far up the Strait to get it ; but on examining the spot, I found that a hap- pier selection could not have been made. It is a little cove, just round the eastern point of the Bay of San Nicolas, about a hundred yards wide and three times as long. Here, moored to the shore, a ship may lie in eight fathoms, perfectly sheltered from any wind, the water as smooth as in a wet-dock. Shapely trees, of all dimensions, are growing within a few yards of the shore; and the wood, when felled, may be hoisted on board from the beach, by tackles from the yard-arras. Here, too, with very little trouble, a supply of water iiiay be got from the many streams that make their way through the underwood which skirts the cove. As we pulled up this sequestered nook, the unusual sound of our oars and voices put to flight multi- tudes of birds, and the surface of the water was broken by the jumping of fine fish. Some very eatable geese were shot. Our stay was too short to admit of hauling the seine ; but my boat's crew contrived to half-fill the boat with excellent muscles and limpets, which are found here in great plenty.'" The geological character of the coast between Cape St. Isidro and San Nicolas Bay is clay-slate ; near the beach, however, this rock is not visible, since it is there covered with a kind of breccia of rounded pebbles, in an indurated sandy rock, of green colour. The pebbles are principally of slate ; but some were found to be of granite and other quartzose rock, perhaps green- stone. One of the headlands, called by M. Bougainville Cape Re- marquable, was examined by Mr. Graves for fossil shells, of which the French navigator speaks. Half the rock was beaten to pieces, without detecting anything like organic remains. Living shells were in the greatest abundance about the base of the Cape, but that is the case every where. The species gene- rally found are limpets and muscles, but with little variety and no novelty.