When once we had disowned all purpose of settling, it is apparent, that we could not defend the propriety of our expedition by arguments equivalent to Carvajal’s objections.  The ministry, therefore, dismissed the whole design, but no declaration was required, by which our right to pursue it, hereafter, might be annulled.

From this time Falkland’s island was forgotten or neglected, till the conduct of naval affairs was intrusted to the earl of Egmont, a man whose mind was vigorous and ardent, whose knowledge was extensive, and whose designs were magnificent; but who had somewhat vitiated his judgment by too much indulgence of romantick projects and airy speculations.

Lord Egmont’s eagerness after something new determined him to make inquiry after Falkland’s island, and he sent out captain Byron, who, in the beginning of the year 1765, took, he says, a formal possession, in the name of his Britannick majesty.

The possession of this place is, according to Mr. Byron’s representation, no despicable acquisition.  He conceived the island to be six or seven hundred miles round, and represented it, as a region naked indeed of wood, but which, if that defect were supplied, would have all that nature, almost all that luxury could want.  The harbour he found capacious and secure, and, therefore, thought it worthy of the name of Egmont.  Of water there was no want, and the ground he described, as having all the excellencies of soil, and as covered with antiscorbutick herbs, the restoratives of the sailor.  Provision was easily to be had, for they killed, almost every day, a hundred geese to each ship, by pelting them with stones.  Not content with physick and with food, he searched yet deeper for the value of the new dominion.  He dug in quest of ore; found iron in abundance, and did not despair of nobler metals.

A country thus fertile and delightful, fortunately found where none would have expected it, about the fiftieth degree of southern latitude, could not, without great supineness, be neglected.  Early in the next year, (January 8, 1766,) captain Macbride arrived at port Egmont, where he erected a small block-house, and stationed a garrison; His description was less flattering.  He found what he calls a mass of islands and broken lands, of which the soil was nothing but a bog, with no better prospect than that of barren mountains, beaten by storms almost perpetual.  Yet this, says he, is summer, and if the winds of winter hold their natural proportion, those who lie but two cables’ length from the shore, must pass weeks without any communication with it.  The plenty which regaled Mr. Byron, and which might have supported not only armies, but armies of Patagons, was no longer to be found.  The geese were too wise to stay, when men violated their haunts, and Mr. Macbride’s crew could only now and then kill a goose, when the weather would permit.  All the quadrupeds which he met there were foxes, supposed by him to have been brought upon the ice; but of useless animals, such as sea lions and penguins, which he calls vermin, the number was incredible.  He allows, however, that those who touch at these islands may find geese and snipes, and, in the summer months, wild celery and sorrel.