es that not alarm you, Mr. Jeorling?"

"Not in the very least."

"Nor us, rest assured. No, no! You see, Mr. Jeorling, our captain
is a good one, although he is no talker. You only need to take him
the right way! First he gives you the passage to Tristan d'Acunha
that he refused you at first, and now he extends it to the pole."

"The pole is not the question, boatswain."

"Ah! it will be reached at last, some day."

"The thing has not yet been done. And, besides, I don't take
much interest in the pole, and have no ambition to conquer it. In
any case it is only to Tsalal Island--"

"Tsalal Island, of course. Nevertheless, you will acknowledge that
our captain has been very accommodating to you, and--"

"And therefore I am much obliged to him, boatswain, and," I
hastened to add, "to you also; since it is to your influence I owe
my passage."

"Very likely." Hurliguerly, a good fellow at bottom, as I
afterwards learned, discerned a little touch of irony in my tone;
but he did not appear to do so; he was resolved to persevere in his
patronage of me. And, indeed, his conversation could not be
otherwise than profitable to me, for he was thoroughly acquainted
with the Falkland Islands. The result was that on the following day
I went ashore adequately prepared to begin my perquisitions. At that
period the Falklands were not utilized as they have been since.

It was at a later date that Port Stanley--described by Elisee
Reclus, the French geographer, as "ideal"--was discovered.
Port Stanley is sheltered at every point of the compass, and could
contain all the fleets of Great Britain.

If I had been sailing for the last two months with bandaged eyes,
and without knowing whither the _Halbrane_ was bound, and had been
asked during the first few hours at our moorings, "Are you in the
Falkland Isles or in Norway?" I should have puzzled how to answer
the question. For here were coasts forming deep creeks, the steep
hills with peaked sides, and the coast-ledges faced with grey rock.
Even the seaside climate, exempt from great extremes of cold and
heat, is common to the two countries. Besides, the frequent rains of
Scandinavia visit Magellan's region in like abundance. Both have
dense fogs, and, in spring and autumn, winds so fierce that the very
vegetables in the fields are frequently rooted up.

A few walks inland would, however, have sufficed to make me
recognize that I was still separated by the equator from the waters