Copy *1 H.M.S. Erebus Berkeley's Sound, Falkland Isl[an]ds
April 26. 1842
My dear Mrs [Mary] Boott,*2
Although I have never yet had the honor of being a correspondent of yours, still I feel so indebted to Dr.B[oott]*3 & yourself for many marks of attention, that I flatter myself you will not refuse a letter from me. My father, in his many communications, always mentions your family & he has especially told me how much we all owe to Dr.B[oott] on poor Mary's account. She, poor girl, in the last letter I will ever receive from her, says, Dr. Booth "wrote in my album, called me Dear Mary, & enquired much after you."
You are aware of the circumstances under which I attached myself to this expedition: my friends can best tell how far it has been for my own good. In joining it, much has been sacrificed for the sake of belonging to such an enterprise, without perhaps an adequate return in Botany. I have, however, been far more comfortable than it was reasonable to expect & indeed more so than I ever did expect: nowhere could I have enjoyed better health; my time, too, is easily employed, & Captain Ross most kindly allows me the use of his cabin, whenever, & for as long as I please:-- my mess mates are very agreeable; the mess comfortable (whenever there is anything to eat) & our private cabins, though small, are light & airy. This is not, however, all,

sailors must, if they be Englishmen, have something to grumble at, & so we do bitterly complain of not having yet received any news from England, though we have been here nearly a month, nor seen a newspaper, much less any despatches or letters, although these are doubtless waiting to be sent down to us, from Rio. Three weeks have elapsed since our arrival at this Port, & although there is not a tree on the face of the country & scarce a shrub house to be seen, still, such is the difference between the sea & shore, that we all enjoy it with great relish.
Ever since the discovery of these islands they have been the scene of much confusion & often bloodshed: & as is often the case with objects of dispute, they do not really appear much worth quarrelling for. Our own government has now sent out Lieut[enant]. Moodie*4 (of the engineers) with a small body of sappers & miners, to take the command of & to report upon the state of the land, previous to colonizing it. The soil appears tolerably good & produces an abundance of rich grass, upon which cattle grow very fat & increase fast. It is handsome, growing from 5 to 7 feet high, always near the sea & most frequently on the little islands in the Sound & the habours, covering the peaty waste with a densely green vegetation. Where cattle can procure this grass, they will touch nothing else & with horses it is the same. Lieut.[enant] Moodie is very anxious to have it introduced into the Western coast of Ireland & on the Hebrides, where,

should it succeed, it will prove of immense value. Wild fowl are here immensely abundant & especially Geese; so tame that in many cases they may be knocked down with sticks, and they are equal, in size & flavor, to any London fowl. The particulars of our first cruize[sic] to the ice, you have doubtless collected from the public papers, though we ourselves have heard nothing of the reception which the news met with in England. Our last cruise has been different, in many respects: the weather was, by no means, so favourable & we met with much more ice than before. Still however, we reached a higher south latitude by a few miles, & had the satisfaction, (or disappointment), of being brought up by nothing less formidable than the Barrier, which no one, in all human probability, will ever surmount. On leaving the Bay of Islands, (Nov 23rd) it was Capt. Ross' intention to have crossed over from the Eastern extremity of the Barrier, to Weddell's track, & then to have steered north for the Falkland Islands. The season was so late when we reached the Barrier, that we had to get back by the same track as we came in.
The first objects that hail us on entering these cold climates are stupendous icebergs, of shapes very different from the Northern ones, being generally tabular & flat--topped & incomparably larger, from which a keen cold wind blows. Then we begin to clothe ourselves warmer & the crows nest is got up at the fore topmast head, for the look out man. The first Berg we made was in 58 1/2 south & 146 west Long.[itude]

In these latitudes we had hard winds, with such dense fogs & snow storms, that we had to fire guns & beat gongs at short intervals, for fear of parting company with the "Terror." Immediately before making the pack ice, (the second era in a southern voyage,) the beautiful White Petril, is seen, which never leaves the pack--ice, but is very abundant near it. The bird has jet--black feet & bill, & all the crest is ivory--white: its size is that of a small pigeon. On the 18th of Dec, we entered the pack running through openings to the southward. After running & beating, for about 200 miles, we found ourselves caught, & it was not until the 2nd of Feb[ruar]y that we emerged at its southern edge. A great part of this time, including a merry Christmas week, was spent in quiet--ness & inaction, the ice being so heavy all round, that the ships were made fast, to one to each side of a small floe, to keep the pressure off them, when an uninterrupted communication was established between the two ships. At Lat[itude]. 68,° S[outh] -- Long[itude] 178 W[est], we cleared the pack, which took a turn & ran to the southward & westward, & stretching as far as Lat [itude]. 70° S[outh] & Long[itude]. 170° W[est] it terminated in sharp point, & then turned to the east & southward. It was hard & heavy the whole way, with many Bergs near it & in it. From foul winds, it was not until Feb[ruar]y 11.th that we rounded the point, & still coasting along the same track, traced it down to the Barrier, where we arrived on Feb[ruar]y 23.d & in the evening went about in Lat[itide] 78°,.9'-- Lat[itude] 161° . 27' ,-- a little to the eastward

of where we had been in the January & Feb[ruar]y of the previous year. We were then amongst much young ice, which covered the sea in small round cases, called Pancake Ice. For once, the afternoon was splendid, & the reflection of the sun's rays, when setting upon the smooth water, the Bergs & the Barrier, was most splendid. We thus added about 100 more miles to this stupendous wall of ice, which stretched away, farther than you could reach on the horizon, to the eastward & westward, its surface is raised in long undulating low hills of snow, which abut on the sea in steep cliffs, where huge masses break off by the heavy swells & become ice bergs, & are drifted about, probably for ages, increasing in height from the falls of snow in both summer & winter; for here there are no genial months, to melt such enormous accumulations of frozen water. It is only by slowly drifting to the northward & coming into warmer water, that these ice bergs finally dissolve. By keeping more to the westward in proceeding north, we avoided any pack ice, & on reaching the lat[itude] of 60°, we commenced running down our longitude, & after rounding Cape Horn, we arrived here on April 5th, the same day as that on which we reached Hobart Town last year. How long we shall [illeg.] remain at the Falklands I cannot say: but next year we go again to the south, in Weddell's track; for the sake of proving the M. D'Urville's*5 Packs & Barriers are quite

previous, & also to wipe away the stigma which he has attached to the name of poor Weddell, by saying that a "English sailor pretends to have reached lat[itude], 74°". After this we shall go to the Cape & then bear up for Old England.
We now are daily expecting to hear from England: & through my father's letters I trust to know your family are in health. To Dr Boott, Miss B, Frank & the rest, I beg you to present my kind compliments & tell the former that I have 4 species of Carex. from this Island & several new ones from New Zealand.
(signed) J.D.Hooker.
(Joseph says that the grass, mentioned above, is "probably Sprengel's Carex trifida."