d cargo, a year before. The 'Duncan' was commanded by Captain
John Mangles, and manned by a crew of fifteen men.

"This is the reason the yacht at this time lay off the coast of
Australia. Six months before, a bottle, enclosing a document written in
English, German, and French, had been found in the Irish Sea, and picked
up by the 'Duncan.' This document stated in substance that there still
existed three survivors from the wreck of the 'Britannia,' that these
survivors were Captain Grant and two of his men, and that they had found
refuge on some land, of which the document gave the latitude, but of
which the longitude, effaced by the sea, was no longer legible.

"This latitude was 37deg 11' south; therefore, the longitude being
unknown, if they followed the thirty-seventh parallel over continents
and seas, they would be certain to reach the spot inhabited by Captain
Grant and his two companions. The English Admiralty having hesitated to
undertake this search, Lord Glenarvan resolved to attempt everything to
find the captain. He communicated with Mary and Robert Grant, who joined
him. The 'Duncan' yacht was equipped for the distant voyage, in which
the nobleman's family and the captain's children wished to take part,
and the 'Duncan,' leaving Glasgow, proceeded towards the Atlantic,
passed through the Straits of Magellan, and ascended the Pacific as
far as Patagonia, where, according to a previous interpretation of the
document, they supposed that Captain Grant was a prisoner among the
Indians.

"The 'Duncan' disembarked her passengers on the western coast of
Patagonia, and sailed to pick them up again on the eastern coast at
Cape Corrientes. Lord Glenarvan traversed Patagonia, following the
thirty-seventh parallel, and having found no trace of the captain, he
re-embarked on the 13th of November, so as to pursue his search through
the Ocean.

"After having unsuccessfully visited the islands of Tristan d'Acunha and
Amsterdam, situated in her course, the 'Duncan,' as I have said, arrived
at Cape Bernouilli, on the Australian coast, on the 20th of December,
1854.

"It was Lord Glenarvan's intention to traverse Australia as he had
traversed America, and he disembarked. A few miles from the coast was
established a farm, belonging to an Irishman, who offered hospitality to
the travelers. Lord Glenarvan made known to the Irishman the cause
which had brought him to these parts, and asked if he knew whether a
three-masted E