l described under
the name of bustards. They are much smaller than our English tame geese,
but eat as well as any I ever tasted. They have short black bills and yellow
feet. The gander is all white; the female is spotted black and white, or grey,
with a large white spot on each wing. Besides the bird above-mentioned, here
are several other aquatic, and some land ones; but of the latter not many.

[* See Pernety's Journal, p.244 and p.213.]

From the knowledge which the inhabitants seem to have of Europeans, we may
suppose that they do not live here continually, but retire to the north
during the winter. I have often wondered that these people do not clothe
themselves better, since Nature has certainly provided materials. They
might line their seal-skin cloaks with the skins and feathers of aquatic
birds; they might make their cloaks larger, and employ the same skins for
other parts of clothing, for I cannot suppose they are scarce with them.
They were ready enough to part with those they had to our people, which
they hardly would have done, had they not known where to have got more. In
short, of all the nations I have seen, the Pecheras are the most wretched.
They are doomed to live in one of the most inhospitable climates in the
world, without having sagacity enough to provide themselves with such
conveniences as may render life in some measure more comfortable.

Barren as this country is, it abounds with a variety of unknown plants, and
gave sufficient employment to Mr Forster and his party. The tree, which
produceth the winter's bark; is found here in the woods, as is the
holy-leaved barberry; and some other sorts, which I know not, but I believe
are common in the straits of Magalhaens. We found plenty of a berry, which we
called the cranberry, because they are nearly of the same colour, size, and
shape. It grows on a bushy plant, has a bitterish taste, rather insipid;
but may he eaten either raw or in tarts, and is used as food by the
natives.

CHAPTER III.

_Range from Christmas Sound, round Cape Horn, through Strait Le Maire,
and round Staten Land; with an Account of the Discovery of a Harbour in
that Island, and a Description of the Coasts._

1774 December

At four o'clock in the morning on the 28th, we began to unmoor, and at
eight weighed, and stood out to sea, with a light breeze at N.W., which
afterwards freshened, and was attended with rain. At noon, the east
point of the sound (Point Nativity) bore N