ifice, which looks well from the harbour;
and on the east of the town are some extensive stores, belonging to the
Falkland Island Company, with their small fleet of vessels in front of
it. On the west of the town is the Government Dock-yard, with
block-house, workshops, guard-house, and stores, all neatly railed in.
The surrounding country consisting of slight elevations, either rocky or
covered with tussac grass, is not attractive. I could not help looking
at the place with great interest, as the first infant British settlement
I had seen; and I thought less of what it then was than of what it might
become, under good management. The last idea was suggested to me, I
must own, by Mr Brand.

The chief promenade in Stanley is called Ross Road, running right and
left of the principal street for about two miles. On one side of it are
built a number of houses facing the water, and among them are two or
more hotels, of some pretensions. Behind this road are some smaller
streets, inhabited by labouring people, Spanish Gauchos, and others.
There are, perhaps, rather more than a hundred houses in the town, and
between 400 and 500 inhabitants, including boatmen, stray sailors,
Gauchos, and other wanderers. Several of the houses have gardens which
produce a fair supply of vegetables, and beef is to be had in abundance;
but as the colony produces very little else in the way of food, the
inhabitants are somewhat hard up in that respect. The islands
alternately belonged to England and Spain, till, in 1774, they were
finally evacuated by the latter power, though it is only of late years
that they have been systematically colonised by England. The first
governor, Lieutenant Moody, arrived there in 1842, when the site of the
intended town was changed from Port Louis to Port Stanley. As a proof
of the value of the islands, Mr Lafosse, a British merchant at Monte
Video, paid 60,000 pounds to have the right over all cattle of every
description to be found on the East Falklands, for six years and a half.
From what I heard, the climate is very healthy. It is at times windy,
but in summer it is as mild and dry as the south of England. In winter
the cold is never severe, and only at intervals of several years does
snow fall to any depth, so as to risk the destruction of cattle. The
most remarkable production is the tussac, a gigantic species of grass,
which grows to the height of ten feet, and is capable of sheltering and
concealin