The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

480
AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA.
selected a peninsula on the eastern island as a convenient site for an estancia of
about 100,000 sheep. The success of this first venture gave rise to others, and
iu 18G7 the first flocks were introduced into the western island, which had
hitherto been neglected.
In 1891 the sheep belonging to the Falkland breeders were estimated at
G7G,000, yielding over 1,000 tons of wool, valued at £107,000. The archipelago
lias also become a depot for the fleece imported from Fuegia. The herbage of the
0to5
Fathoms.
Fig. 189.— Poet Stanley.
Sa-ile 1 : 14S.0OO
*%ir^p^^w^
57° 52- West oF Gr-eenwich S/"'*'''
5 to 10
Fathoms.
Depths.
Seaweed.
10 to 25
Fathoms.
2.'^ Fathnins
and upwards.
islands is so nutritious that many of the sheep yield on an average seven or eight
pounds' weight of a somewhat coars3 wool. Recently the frozen meat industry
has been introduced, and some cargoes have already been consigned to the English
market.
Port Stanley, capital of the archipelago, possesses an ideal harbour, a natural
basin sheltered from all winds, and fringed round its shores with thick beds of
seaweed, which deaden the shock of the waves. Many vessels, knocked about
during the stormy passage round Cape Ilorn, put into Port Stanley for repairs