l as two places on each side, was terminated
by perpendicular ice-cliffs of considerable height. Pieces were
continually breaking off, and floating out to sea; and a great fall
happened while we were in the bay, which made a noise like cannon.

The inner parts of the country were not less savage and horrible. The
wild rocks raised their lofty summits till they were lost in the clouds,
and the valleys lay covered with everlasting snow. Not a tree was to be
seen, nor a shrub even big enough to make a toothpick. The only
vegetation we met with was a coarse strong-bladed grass growing in
tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss, which sprung from the rocks.

Seals, or sea-bears, were pretty numerous. They were smaller than those
at Staten Land: Perhaps the most of those we saw were females, for the
shores swarmed with young cubs. We saw none of that sort which we call
lions; but there were some of those which the writer of Lord Anson's
voyage describes under that name; at least they appeared to us to be of
the same sort; and are, in my opinion, very improperly called lions, for
I could not see any grounds for the comparison.

Here were several flocks of penguins, the largest I ever saw; some which
we brought on board weighed from twenty-nine to thirty-eight pounds. It
appears by Bougainville's account of the animals of Falkland Islands,
that this penguin is there; and I think it is very well described by him
under the name of first class of penguins*. The oceanic birds were
albatrosses, common gulls, and that sort which I call Port Egmont hens,
terns, shags, divers, the new white bird, and a small bird like those of
the Cape of Good Hope, called yellow birds; which, having shot two, we
found most delicious food.

[* See Bougainville, English translation p.64.]

All the land birds we saw consisted of a few small larks, nor did we
meet with any quadrupeds. Mr Forster indeed observed some dung, which he
judged to come from a fox, or some such animal. The lands, or rather
rocks, bordering on the sea-coast, were not covered with snow like the
inland parts; but all the vegetation we could see on the clear places
was the grass above-mentioned. The rocks seemed to contain iron. Having
made the above observations, we set out for the ship, and got on board a
little after twelve o'clock, with a quantity of seals and penguins, an
acceptable present to the crew.

It must not, however, be understood that we were in want of provisio