Ледяной сфинкс
Chapter IX. Fitting out the Halbrane
Oneday,whentheairwasfilledwithasoundofbraying,sufficienttodeafenone,IaskedanoldsailorbelongingtoPortEgmont,—
“Arethereassesabouthere?”
“Sir,”hereplied,“thosearenotassesthatyouhear,butpenguins.”
Theassesthemselves,hadanybeenthere,wouldhavebeendeceivedbythebrayingofthesestupidbirds.Ipursuedmyinvestigationssomewaytothewestofthebay.WestFalklandismoreextensivethanitsneighbour,LaSoledad,andpossessesanotherfortatthesouthernpointofByron’sSound—toofaroffformetogothere.
IcouldnotestimatethepopulationoftheArchipelagoevenapproximately.Probably,itdidnotthenexceedfromtwotothreehundredsouls,mostlyEnglish,withsomeIndians,Portuguese,Spaniards,GauchefromtheArgentinePampas,andnativesfromTierDelFuel.Ontheotherhand,therepresentativesoftheovineandbovineracesweretobecountedbytensofthousands.Morethanfivehundredthousandsheepyieldoverfourhundredthousanddollars’worthofwoolyearly.Therearealsohornedcattlebredontheislands;theseseemtohaveincreasedinsize,whiletheotherquadrupeds,forinstance,horses,pigs,andrabbits,havedecreased.Alltheseliveinawildstate,andtheonlybeastofpreyisthedog-fox,aspeciespeculiartothefaunaoftheFalklands.
Notwithoutreasonhasthisislandbeencalled“acattlefarm.
