Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

328 EVENTS IN THE FALKLAMDs. March garrison at Port Louis, consisting of a sergeant's guard of sol- diers, a subaltern, and a field officer. The men mutinied be- cause their superior was thought to be unnecessarily severe, and occupied them unceasingly in drill and parade, to the pre- judice of their obtaining food sufficient for health. They were obliged, in consequence of his system, to hve upon worse fare than the settlers, because they could not go about to forage for themselves ; and the result was that, after many threats, they murdered him. A small armed schooner* arrived a few days afterwards from Buenos Ayres, by whose officers and crew, assisted by some French sailors, the principal mutineers, nine in number, were taken and put into confinement on board. They were afterwards carried to Buenos Ayres. On the 26th of August 1833, three 'gauchos' and five In- diansj- (the prisoners before mentioned), set upon and murdei-ed Mr. Brisbane ; Dickson, the man in charge of Vernet's store ; J Simon, the capataz ; the poor German ; and another settler after which atrocious acts they plundered the settlement and drove all the cattle and horses into the interior. Only that morn- ing Mr. Low, who was then living with Mr. Brisbane, left Port Louis on a sealing excursion, with four men. Hardly was his boat out of sight, when the deceitful villains attacked Brisbane in Vernet's house: suspecting no treachery, he fell at once by the knife of Antonio Rivero. Simon defended himself desperately but was overpowered ; the others, overcome by fear, fell easy victims. The rest of the settlers, consisting of thii'teen men, three women, and two children, remained with the murderers two days, and then escaped to a small island in the Sound where they lived on birds' eggs and fish, till the arrival of the English sealer Hopeful, § on board which was an officer of the navy, || who in some measure relieved their immediate distress, but could not delay to protect them from the assaults which * Sarandi. t Antonio Rivero, J. M. Luna, M. Godoy, — J.Brasido, M. Gonzales, L. Flores, F. Salazar, M. Lattore. : P. 240. §Nov. 1833. II Mr. Rea, The Hopeful belon^^ed to Messrs. Enderby.