Staten Land lies near E. by N. and W. by S., and is ten leagues long in that direction, and no where above three or four leagues broad. The coast is rocky, much indented, and seemed to form several bays or inlets. It shews a surface of craggy hills which spire up to a vast height, especially near the west end. Except the craggy summits of the hills, the greatest part was covered with trees and shrubs, or some sort of herbage, and there was little or no snow on it. The currents between Cape Deseada and Cape Horn set from west to east, that is, in the same direction as the coast; but they are by no means considerable. To the east of the cape their strength is much increased, and their direction is N.E. towards Staten Land. They are rapid in Strait Le Maire and along the south coast of Staten Land, and set like a torrent round Cape St John; where they take a N.W. direction, and continue to run very strong both within and without New Year's Isles. While we lay at anchor within this island, I observed that the current was strongest during the flood; and that on the ebb its strength was so much impaired, that the ship would sometimes ride head to the wind when it was at W. and W.N.W. This is only to be understood of the place where the ship lay at anchor, for at the very time we had a strong current setting to the westward, Mr Gilbert found one of equal strength near the coast of Staten Land setting to the eastward, though probably this was an eddy current or tide.
If the tides are regulated by the moon, it is high-water by the shore at this place on the days of the new and full moon, about four o'clock. The perpendicular rise and fall is very inconsiderable, not exceeding four feet at most. In Christmas Sound it is high-water at half past two o'clock on the days of the full and change, and Mr Wales observed it to rise and fall on a perpendicular three feet six inches; but this was during the neap tides, consequently the spring tides must rise higher. To give such an account of the tides and currents on these coasts as navigators might depend on, would require a multitude of observations, and in different places, the making of which would be a work of time. I confess myself unprovided with materials for such a task; and believe that the less I say on this subject the fewer mistakes I shall make. But I think I have been able to observe, that in Strait Le Maire the southerly tide or current, be it flood or ebb, begins to act on the days of new and full moon about four o'clock, which remark may be of use to ships who pass the strait.
Were I bound round Cape Horn to the west, and not in want of wood or water, or any other thing that might make it necessary to put into port, I would not come near the land at all. For by keeping out at sea you avoid the currents, which, I am satisfied, lose their force at ten or twelve leagues from land; and at a greater distance, there is none.
During the time we were upon the coast we had more calms than storms, and the winds so variable, that I question if a passage might not have been made from east to west in as short a time as from west to east; nor did we experience any cold weather. The mercury in the thermometer at noon was never below 46°; and while we lay in Christmas Sound it was generally above temperate. At this place the variation was 23° 30' E.; a few leagues to the S. W. of Strait Le Maire it was 24°; and at anchor, within New Year's Isles, it was 24° 20' E.
These isles are, in general, so unlike Staten Land, especially the one on which we landed, that it deserves a particular description. It shews a surface of equal height, and elevated about thirty or forty feet above the sea, from which it is defended by a rocky coast. The inner part of the isle is covered with a sort of sword-grass, very green, and of a great length. It grows on little hillocks of two or three feet in diameter, and as many or more in height, in large tufts, which seemed to be composed of the roots of the plant matted together. Among these hillocks are a vast number of paths made by sea-bears and penguins, by which they retire into the centre of the isle. It is, nevertheless, exceedingly bad travelling; for these paths are so dirty that one is sometimes up to the knees in mire. Besides this plant, there are a few other grasses, a kind of heath, and some celery. The whole surface is moist and wet, and on the coast are several small streams of water. The sword-grass, as I call it, seems to be the same that grows in Falkland Isles, described by Bougainville as a kind of gladiolus, or rather a species of gramen[9] and named by Pernety corn-flags.
[Footnote 9: See English Translation of Bougainville, p. 51.]
The animals found on this little spot are sea-lions, sea-bears, a variety of oceanic, and some land-birds. The sea-lion is pretty well described by Pernety, though those we saw here have not such fore-feet or fins as that he has given a plate of, but such fins as that which he calls the sea-wolf. Nor did we see any of the size he speaks of; the largest not being more than twelve or fourteen feet in length, and perhaps eight or ten in circumference. They are not of that kind described under the same name by Lord Anson; but, for aught I know, these would more properly deserve that appellation: The long hair, with which the back of the head, the neck and shoulders, are covered, giving them greatly the air and appearance of a lion. The other part of the body is covered with short hair, little longer than that of a cow or a horse, and the whole is a dark-brown. The female is not half so big as the male, and is covered with a short hair of an ash or light-dun colour. They live, as it were, in herds, on the rocks, and near the sea-shore. As this was the time for engendering as well as bringing forth their young, we have seen a male with twenty or thirty females about him, and always very attentive to keep them all to himself, and beating off every other male who attempted to come into his flock. Others again had a less number; some no more than one or two; and here and there we have seen one lying growling in a retired, place, alone, and suffering neither males nor females to approach him: We judged these were old and superannuated.
The sea-bears are not so large, by far, as the lions, but rather larger than a common seal. They have none of that long hair which distinguishes the lion. Theirs is all of an equal length, and finer than that of the lion, something like an otter's, and the general colour is that of an iron-grey. This is the kind which the French call sea-wolfs, and the English seals; they are, however, different from the seals we have in Europe and North America. The lions may, too, without any great impropriety, be called over-grown seals; for they are all of the same species. It was not at all dangerous to go among them, for they either fled or lay still. The only danger was in going between them and the sea; for if they took fright at any thing, they would come down in such numbers, that, if you could not get out of their way, you would be run over. Sometimes, when we came suddenly upon them, or waked them out of their sleep, (for they are a sluggish sleepy animal), they would raise up their heads; snort and snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour us; but as we advanced upon them they always run away, so that they are downright bullies.
The penguin is an amphibious bird, so well known to most people, that I shall only observe, they are here in prodigious numbers, so that we could knock down as many as we pleased with a stick. I cannot say they are good eating. I have indeed made several good meals of them, but it was for want of better victuals. They either do not breed here, or else this was not the season; for we saw neither eggs nor young ones.
Shags breed here in vast numbers; and we carried on board not a few, as they are very good eating. They take certain spots to themselves, and build their nests near the edge of the cliffs on little hillocks, which are either those of the sword-grass, or else they are made by the shags building on them from year to year. There is another sort rather smaller than these, which breed in the cliffs of rocks.