19th March 1834

E. Falkland Islands
The weather continued so bad I was determined to make a push & try to reach the Ship before dark, which I succeeded in doing. From the great quantity of rain this boggy country was in a very bad state. I suppose my horse fell at least a dozen times & sometimes the whole six were floundering in the mud together. All the little streams have their sides soft, so that it is a great exertion for the horses to jump over them, & from the same cause they repeatedly fall.

To finish our misery, we crossed an arm of the sea, which was up to the top of the horses backs, & the little waves from the violent winds broke over us. So that even the Gauchos were not sorry to reach the houses.