■n
H:
JÎIiüSHWOOn— P E A T - GIIASS.
kinds, a sort of quail (like that of Tierra del Fuego), carrion-
hawks or vultures, albatrosses, gulls, petrel, penguins, sea-
liens, shags, rooks, curlew, sandpipers, rock-hoppers, and a
very few land-birds, are found about most of the islands. *
Although there are no trees, a useful kind of brushwood
grows abundantly in vallies, to the height of three or four feet,
and thickly set together. Over level plains it is but thinly
scattered. The settlers use this brushwood for lighting their
peat-fires. There are three kinds of bushes ; one grows straight,
from two to five feet high, with a stem from half an inch to
an inch and half in diameter: this kind is found abundantly
in most of the vallies. Another is common about the southern
parts of the islands, and has a crooked trunk, as thick as a man’s
arm, growing to about three feet in height. The third is
smaller still, being little better than heather; it grows almost
every where, though scantily.
Peat is inexhaustible; and, if properly managed, answers
every common purpose of fuel, not only as a substitute, but
pleasantly.! I* wih not, however, in its natural state, answer
for a forge; but if dried and subjected to heavy pressure for
some time before use, a much greater heat might be derived
from it.
There is but little difference in the quality of the grass,
either on high or low land; but in sheltered valleys it is longer’
softer, and greener, than elsewhere. The whole face of the
country is covered with i t ; and in some places, especially over
a peaty soil, its growth becomes hard and rank. In the
* ‘ Birda’ eggs are so numerous at the proper season, that “ eight men
gathered at one place alone, in four or five days, upwards of sixty thousand
eggs, and might have collected twice that number had they remained
a few days longer.”—Vernet, MS. 1831.
f “ The want of wood on these islands would be a great inconvenience,
were it not that good peat is very abundant. I have burned many tons, and
found It an excellent substitute for coal. In order to get it dry it is
necessary to pull it from the sides of the pit, not very deep ; and as’there
are several peat-holes, by working them alternately, the material may be
procured in a state fit for use.”—Weddell’s Voyage, p. 88.
I! '>
GRASS SOIL POTASH. 257
southern half of Fast Falkland, where, as I mentioned, the
soil is good, there is abundance of long, but brownish grass
over all the country, and at the roots of it there are sweet
tender shoots, sheltered from the wind, much liked by cattle.
In that district there are several varieties of grass growing on
fine dark-coloured earth, mixed with light white sand; and,
although, from never being cut, it has a rugged and brown
appearance, its nutritive properties must be considerable, as
the finest cattle are found feeding there. Mr. Bynoe remarked
to me, that wherever the surface of the ground had been broken
by cattle, he found a very dark-coloured earth mixed with
sand or clay, or else clay mixed with gravel and sand. That
the clay is good for bricks has been mentioned; but I have
not said that there is stone of two or three kinds suitable for
building, and that any quantity of lime may be obtained by
burning fossil shells brought from the coast of Patagonia,
where the cliffs are full of them, or by collecting the shells
scattered upon the Falkland shores. Another natural production,
of more value than it has hitherto been considered, is the
common sea-weed or kelp ;* and I am told by Sir ’IVoodbine
Parish that the archil or orchilla weed was obtained there by
the Spaniards.
I t is to be remarked, that the soil of Fast Falkland has been
very much improved in the neighbourhood of tbe settlement,
as well as around the estancia, or farm, where the tame cattle
are kept, in consequence of the treading and manuring it has
]|1
I1t1'
ii:
i $ r
f
T
• The manner of extracting* potash from sea-weed is as follows
When a sufficient quantity of kelp has been collected, it is spread out in
a place where it will be dried by the sun andwind^ and when dry enough
to burn, a hollow is dug in the ground three or four feet wide ; round its
margin are laid stones, on which tbe weed is placed and set on fire.
Quantities of this fuel being continually heaped upon the circle, there is
in the centre a constant flame, from which a liquid substance, like melted
metal, drops into the hollow beneath. This substance is worked, or
stirred, with iron rakes, and brought to an uniform consistence while in
a state of fusion ; and when cool, it consolidates into a heavy, dark-
coloured alkaline substance, which undergoes in the glass-houses a second
vitrification, and then assumes a perfect transparency.
VOL. II. S
!