At twelve o’clock last night it began to blow hard from west-northwest, and we went on deck this morning to find a fresh gale from that quarter, with a surprisingly heavy sea, considering the proximity of the land, for the weather-shore was not more than sixty or seventy miles away. The ship was under the lower topsails, foresail, reefed main-sail, and spencer, going well and easily, a couple of points free, heading into the land for smoother water. Gracious, how the wind yelled around us this forenoon, drenching the ship fore and aft with the tops of the foaming seas, which the gale whipped like the blowing of froth from a vat of beer! In the severest puffs the wind certainly rose to force 10; and on one occasion, when sliding down the weather-side of a sea, being simultaneously struck by a heavy blast, we dipped the lee poop-rail into the sea. At breakfast the skipper said, “There was sharp lightning in the sou’west this morning, early, and when you see this off Cape Horn, look out for bad weather and snug her down.” I should think so, with the barometer at 28.98. A new bird has made its appearance. It is of a light slate color, looks and flies like a Mother Carey’s chicken, and is familiarly called by sailors the Ice Bird, being supposed to exist chiefly in the vicinity of ice. They are very cheerful little creatures, though, and being small and light, were whisked about by the gale like scraps of paper. We are just abreast now of the damp, dreary Falkland Islands, which, if I mistake not, form the southernmost of all of Great Britain’s colonies; she may possess islands which are farther south than these, but they are not strictly colonies. The group comprises some two hundred islands, though there are only two of any importance,--East and West Falkland. The area of the former is three thousand square miles, being considerably larger than Rhode Island, and contains the most important settlement, Stanley, a town of one thousand inhabitants. The climate of the Falklands is extremely healthy and equable, the average temperature for the two midwinter months being 37°, that of the two midsummer ones 47°; and although in the corresponding latitude and the precise longitude of the southern part of Labrador, ice seldom forms of sufficient thickness to allow skating. The weather, however, is excessively damp. But, though there are generally two hundred and fifty wet days in the year, the total annual precipitation is but twenty inches, or one-half that of New York; the greater portion of the moisture descending in the form of fogs and dense drizzles. More than fifty vessels a year call at Stanley Harbor, and being so close to Cape Horn, in the vicinity of which more ships are damaged by the elements than in any other region in the world, it is natural that a ship-yard and chandlery for the repair of sailing ships should pay extremely well. But, say the deep-water skippers, woe to the vessel which falls