ld annexed to his book, at the
spot where the new land is delineated, we read this inscription, _Isles
nouvelles Australes vuees par Monsieur de Pages, en_ 1774. He could
scarcely have expressed himself in stronger terms, if he had meant to
convey an idea that he was the conductor of the discovery. And yet we
know that he was only a lieutenant [Enseigne de vaisseau] on board of
one of three ships commanded by Kerguelen; and that the discovery had
been already made in a former voyage, undertaken while he was actually
engaged in his singular journey round the world.

After all, it cannot but be remarked, that Kerguelen was peculiarly
unfortunate in having done so little to complete what he had begun. He
discovered a new land indeed; but, in two expeditions to it, he could
not once bring his ships to an anchor upon any part of its coasts.
Captain Cook, as we have seen in this, and in the foregoing chapter, had
either fewer difficulties to struggle with, or was more successful in
surmounting them.--D.]

Mr Anderson, my surgeon, who, as I have already mentioned, had made
natural history a part of his studies, lost no opportunity, during the
short time we lay in Christmas Harbour, of searching the country in
every direction. He afterward communicated to me the observations he
made on its natural productions; and I shall insert them here in his own
words.

"Perhaps no place hitherto discovered in either hemisphere, under the
same parallel of latitude, affords so scanty a field for the naturalist
as this barren spot. The verdure which appears, when at a little
distance from the shore, would flatter one with the expectation of
meeting with some herbage; but in this we were much deceived. For on
landing, we saw that this lively colour was occasioned only by one small
plant, not much unlike some sorts of _saxifrage_, which grows in large
spreading tufts to a considerable way up the hills. It forms a surface
of a pretty large texture, and grows on a kind of rotten turf, into
which one sinks a foot or two at every step. This turf, dried, might, in
cases of necessity, serve for fuel, and is the only thing we met with
here that could possibly be applied to this use."

"There is another plant, plentifully enough scattered about the boggy
declivities, which grows to near the height of two feet, and not much
unlike a small cabbage, when it has shot into seeds. The leaves about
the root are numerous, large, and rounded; narrower at th