M. de Bouganville, about two years after the fettlement had been made, was fent by his court to Spain, where a ceffion of it was concluded, by which the French relinquished all claims which they had pretended from either the discovery or the poffeffion; and he, having undoubtedly received at least a compenfation for his expences, carried a Spanish governor and fome troops thither in the year 1766, from Buenos Ayres, to whom he refigned the poffeffion, and who changed the name from Port Louis, which the French had given it, to Port Solidad.

These islands lie in about fiftyone degrees and a half of fouthern latitude, and about 100 leagues on this fide of the Streights of Magellan. They feem to confift of two great islands and a number of fmall ones; the great ones being divided by a found or ftreight of very confiderable length, and the land every where cut into and interfected by almost numberlefs bays, many of which run very deep into the country, and, as well as the found, are dotted with fmall iflands. Our fettlement at Port Egmont lies upon a fmall island, adjoining to the greater and moft western of the two confiderable iflands, and Port Solidad, on the eastern and leffer of the principal islands.

Commodore Byron is faid to have reprefented these iflands in a very favourable point of view; that he fuppofed the great ones to be fix or feven hundred miles in circumference, the harbour at Port Egmont admirable, plenty of water, and an exuberance of very long herbage, the foil deep, and to all appearance good, plenty of iron ore, and an indication of other

minerals; but the country, so far as it had been discovered, deftitute of wood. Wild-fowl were also in the greatest abundance, and geese in particular fo plenty, that they killed about an hundred a day for the use of each fhip, only by pelting them with ftones.

This account is not only confirmed, but exceeded, in thofe given by the French, who magnify the temperature and goodness of the climate, run encomiums on the excellence of the fish, which they caught in great quantities, and defcribe the numbers of wild.fowl and penguins almost as incredible; they also found the fea-lions and wolves very numerous, which are valuable, both for their skins, and the vast quantities of oil they afford this they computed at no lefs than four hogfheads a-piece from the full-grown ones. They alfo add, that their horfes and cattle of every fort, which feemed nearly dead at the time of their being landed, recovered and throve in a most surprising degree, and kept themselves in excellent condition through every feason of the year, without their being houfed, or any attention paid to them. They also found great quantities of good turf for firing, a matter of the greatest confequence in fo high a latitude, and a country totally deftitute of wood. The islands bore no marks of having ever been inhabited, and were totally deftitute of quadru peds, except a kind of wild dog. or animal that seemed between the wolf and the fox kind.

Thefe favourable accounts have however been much called in queftion here, upon the report of the British officer who fucceeded Mr. Byron upon that station; and who

is faid to have reprefented the climate as nearly intolerable, the whole country as a confufed mafs of iflands and broken lands, the foil a bog, encumbered with bar ren mountains, and beaten with almoft perpetual ftorms, while the boafted plenty of provifions was come to nothing, geefe in particular being very fcarce. It was farther faid, that the plants which fprung from the feeds they had carried from Europe, withered in the growth, and never arrived at any degree of perfection, and that even the hardy fir, which withstands the austere winter of the northern regions, funk under the rigour of this inhofpitable cli

mate.

Under the latitude in which we have obferved thefe iflands to lie, a continual fummer or fpring is certainly not to be expected; the ftorms in particular are frequent, and remarkably boifterous in all the Magellanic quarter, and the cold in the high fouthern latitudes is well known to be more severe, than in equal degrees of the northern. If the account, however, which is attributed to Mr. Byron, be the real one communicated by him, much refpect is due to it; as well from his rank, character, and long experience in the fervice, as from the particular knowledge in that part of the world, which he fo dearly acquired in Lord Anfon's expedition. The French accounts alfo not only confirm, but even go beyond his in every favour uble part of the defcription. As to vegetables, thofe which they brought from Europe, and planted for the ufe of the kitchen garden, grew to admiration in the raifing of corn they were unfuccefsful;

the blades fhot up very well, and produced well-looking cars; but thefe were hollow, and totally deftitute of grain. They however, with more temper and juftice than we feem to have done, inftead of rafhly condemning the climate or foil, only conclude that to raise corn would require fome manure, and a better degree of culture than they had beftowed upon it. Indeed it does not feem, that a country abounding in grafs can be unfavourable to vegetation in general, or that the climate can be extraordinarily fevere, where cattle thrive to admiration, and live abroad the year through, without even the shelter of woods to protect them from the inclemency of the weather. As to the fcarcity, or total abfence, of geefe or any other kind of wild-fowl, at particular feafons, it concludes nothing; as moft kinds of them are probably migratory in every part of the world.

It does not appear, that either of the fettlements on these islands knew of the other; nor are we certainly informed, whether our government was acquainted with the purchafe made by the Spaniards, or of their taking poffeffion of the French fettlement, previous to the period of which we are going to treat. However this was, we find, that in the year 1769 we had a frigate and a floop upon that ftation, and captain Hunt, of the Tamar frigate, being on a cruize off the islands, fell in Nov. 29. with a Spanish fchooner belonging to Port Solidad taking a furvey of them, the captain of which, according to his orders, he warned to depart from that coat as belonging to his Britannic ma jet

[4] 4

jefty. The fchooner, however, returned in two days after, and brought on board a Spanish officer, with letters and a prefent from Don Philip Reuz Puenta, governor of Port Solidad. These letters were couched in terms of the great-, eft civility the governor affected not to believe the account he had received from the captain of the fchooner; to attribute capt. Hunt's being in those feas to chance or distress of weather, and upon that prefumption to offer him every act of friendship and kindness in his power; but, if it fhould be otherwife, reminded him of the violation of treaties; afferted his mafter's dominions; charged him with an infult to his flag, and authorized the officer to warn him in form to depart; at the fame time defired a written anfwer, and that he would alfo correfpond with the

officer.

Capt. Hunt, in anfwer, afferted the fole dominion of his Britannic majefty, as well by right of difcovery as of fettlement, and warned him in his name, and by his orders, to leave the islands; and, in order to enable him the better to remove his effects, allowed him fix months from the date of the letter to prepare for his departure. The Spanish officer made a formal proteft, as well upon the grounds we have mentioned, as upon captain Hunt's refufing to let him vifit the fettlement, and his threatening to fire into the Spanish fchooner, upon her attempting to enter the harbour: he alfo protefted againft the captain's going to Solidad, which he had propofed in an ami cable manner, and declared that it fhould be confidered as an infult.

This produced, about a fortnight after, another letter, another anfwer, and another protest About two months after this tranfaction, two Spanish frigates of confiderable force, with troops on board for the new fettlement, Feb. 20. arrived at Port Egmont, under pretence of wanting water: the commander in chief wrote a letter to captain Hunt, in which he expreffed great astonishment at feeing an English flag flying, and a kind of fettlement formed; charged him with a violation of the laft peace, and protested against the act in all its parts; at the fame time declared that he would abstain from any other manner of proceeding, till he had acquainted his Catholic Majefty with this disagreeable tranfaction. Captain Hunt, as before, founded his poffeffion on the claim of right, juftified his conduct by the orders of his fovereign, and again warned the Spaniards to depart totally from those islands. The frigates continued eight days at Port Egmont, and were fupplied by our people with water; the captains and officers behaved with civility, and declined going on fhore, though permiffion was offered by captain Hunt.

As these transactions feemed indicative of fome fuch confequences as followed, captain Hunt thought it proper to depart as soon after for England with an account of them as he could; and, having accordingly arrived at PlyJune 3, mouth, fent an express immediately to the admiralty. The Favourite, floop, captain Maltby, fucceeded the Tamar at Port Egmont, and with the Swift, captain Farmer, each of 16

1770.

gunsa

guns, formed the whole force upon that itation. This was, however, foon leffened, the Swift having been unluckily loft in the Streights of Magellan, where fhe had gone to make discoveries, and was by fome means overfet: the crew, except three, were fortunately faved; but were still liable to perifh by the most dreadful of all calamities, if the fortitude and conftancy of a fmall part of the crew had not faved the whole. Thefe, in the open cutter, undertook a voyage of about three weeks in the moft boisterous feas in the world, and, having happily arrived at Port Egmont, brought the Favourite to the relief of their diftreffed brethren.

It was not long after this lofs, June 4th. when a Spanish frigate put into Port Egmont, under pretence that she had been 53 days from Buenos Ayres, and was diftreffed for water; but three days after her conforts, confifting of four other frigates, also arrived, and it foon appeared that they had been only 26 days at fea, had parted from the firft in a gale of wind, and instead of being on their way to Port Solidad, were now arrived at the place of their deftination. Thefe five frigates carried 134 pieces of cannon, and had between 16 and 1700 men, including foldiers and marines, on board; befides which they had brought with then a train of artillery, and other materials fufficient to have invested a regular fortification, intead of a wooden block-house, which had not a port-hole cut in it, and only four pieces of cannon, which were funk in the mud, to defend it.

A Spanish broad pendant was

immediately hoifted, on the arrival of the four laft frigates, and as no doubt of their intentions now remained, captain Farmer ordered molt of the officers and men who had belonged to the Swift to come on fhore to the defence of the fettlement, and captain Maltby to bring the Favourite nearer into the cove. Upon the firft motions of the Favourite, one of the Spanish frigates fent an officer on board, to acquaint captain Maltby, that if he weighed they would fire into him: he however got under fail, regardless of this menace; and the frigate fired two fhots, which fell to leeward of him; and three of the Spaniards got under weigh, and worked to windward as he did. In the mean time captain Maltby fent an officer on board the Spanish commodore, to know the reafon why one of his fhips had fired at him; to which he answered, that the fhots were only fired as fignals.

From the first appearance of the fhips, captain Farmer had been active in clearing the ftores out of the block-houfe, and in endeavouring to make it as defenfible as its nature would permit. Their four pieces of cannon, which were 12 pounders, were planted on a battery that covered the landing-place, but were fo fwallowed up, as we have already observed, in water and mud, as to be rendered èntirely ufelefs; these he had removed to the block-houfe, and had the platform cleared, and portholes cut out for them. In the mean time, both the captains wrote to the Spanish commodore, that as he had received the refreshments which he ftood in need of, they defired, in

June 8th.

the

the name and authority of the King their Mafter, that he would inmediately depart from that port, and totally evacuate all the islands known by the name of Falkland's.

Letters were wrote from the Spanish commodore about the fame time to both the captains feparately, requesting them in the tenderest terms to confider his great power, and their own defenceless fituation; and that they would, by quitting the place, prevent his being under a neceffity of proceeding to hoftili ties, the confequences of which would render them incapable of purfuing their voyage home.

These were followed by another the next day, in which he offered, if they would quickly and with good-will abandon the place, that he would peaceably and quietly put his troops on fhore, and treat theirs with all the confideration that the harmony fubfifting between the two fovereigns required, and permit them to carry along with them all that was theirs on fhore, and what they either could not, or did not chufe to carry with them, he would give them a receipt for, and then leave the matter to be fettled by their respective courts. If, contrary to expectation, they should endeavour to maintain the fettlement, he then would proceed to the accomplishment of his orders, and in that cafe threatened them with an attack by fea and land, and all the confequences of fire and fword, in the moft pompous terms. He concluded by affuring them, that if they did not, in fifteen minutes after the receipt of his letter, give à categorical and favourable answer to it, he would immediately commence his opera

tions; and talked largely of the fpirit and brilliancy which they fhould experience both in his land and fea forces; at the fame time he recommended to them to meditate upon the fatal confequences which their obstinacy would be productive of to the innocent fubjects of his Britannic majesty.

To thefe, and another letter which accompanied the laft, our officers returned, for answer, that words are not always deemed hoftilities, and that they could not think that he would, in a time of profound peace, and when the greatest harmony fubfifted by his

own

acknowledgement between the two crowns, attempt to put his threats in execution. That they did not doubt but he was thoroughly convinced, that the King their mafter was fufficiently capable to demand fatisfaction, in all parts of the globe, of any power whatsoever that should offer to infult the British flag. And that therefore, was the time limitted even shorter than the fifteen minutes he had allowed,, it should make no alteration in their determined refolution, to defend, to the utmost of their power, the charge committed to them.

Previous to the defigned attack, the Spanish commodore, to thew the inefficacy of making any refift ance, defired that fome of our officers might be fent to view the number and condition of the troops and artillery, that were ready to be landed, which was accordingly complied with on the fame evening of the 9th, and they were found to be in the ftate which we have already defcribed. The Spanish frigate then warped in clofe to the fhore, and moored head and

ftern