“The same night we steered our course againe west south west, which was but our south west, the compasse having two and twenty degrees variation eastwardly, keeping that course till we came in the latitude of three and fifty degrees.”

In both the printed and manuscript account, this land is said to lie in latitude forty-seven, to be situated to the westward of the ship when first discovered, to appear woody, to have an harbour where a great number of ships might ride in safety, and to be frequented by innumerable birds.  It appears also by both accounts, that the weather prevented his going on shore, and that he steered from it W.S.W. till he came into latitude fifty-three:  There can therefore be little doubt but that Cowley gave the name of Pepys’s Island after he came home, to what he really supposed to be the island of Sebald de Wert, for which it is not difficult to assign several reasons; and though the supposition of a mistake of the figures does not appear to be well grounded, yet, there being no land in forty-seven, the evidence that what Cowley saw was Falkland’s Islands is very strong.  The description of the country agrees in almost every particular, and even the map is of the same general figure, with a strait running up the middle.  The chart of Falkland’s that accompanies my narrative, was laid down from the journals and drawings of Captain Macbride, who was dispatched thither after my return, and circumnavigated the whole coast:  The two principal islands were probably called Falkland’s Islands by Strong, about the year 1689, as he is known to have given the name of Falkland’s Sound to part of the strait which divides them.  The journal of this navigator is still unprinted in the British Museum.  The first who saw these islands is supposed to be Captain Davies, the associate of Cavendish, in 1692.  In 1594, Sir Richard Hawkins saw land, supposed to be the same, and in honour of his mistress, Queen Elizabeth, called them Hawkins’s Maiden Land.  Long afterwards, they were seen by some French ships from Saint Maloes, and Frezier, probably for that reason, called them the Malouins, a name which has been since adopted by the Spaniards.

Having continued in the harbour which I had called Port Egmont till Sunday the 27th of January, we sailed again at eight o’clock in the morning with the wind at S.S.W.; but we were scarcely got out of the port before it began to blow very hard, and the weather became so thick that we could not see the rocky islands.  I now most heartily wished myself again at anchor in the harbour we had quitted; but in a short time we had the satisfaction to see the weather become clear, though it continued to blow very hard the whole day.  At nine the entrance of Port Egmont harbour bore E.S.E. distant two leagues; the two low islands to the northward E. by N. distant between three and four miles; and the rocky island W. 1/2 N. distant four leagues.  At ten the two low islands bore S.S.E. distant four