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med trees of Fuchsia and Veronica, in England considered
and treated as tender plants, in full flower, within a very
short distance of the base of a mountain covered for two-
thirds down with snow, and with the temperature at 36°.”
He states, also, that humming-birds were seen sipping the
sweets of the flowers, “ after two or three days of constant
rain, snow, and sleet, during which time the thermometer
had been at the freezing point.” I myself have seen parrots
feeding on the seeds of the winter’s bark, south of latitude
55°.
Although the limit of an almost tropical vegetation extends
thus far southward, yet the dearth of living things, both vegetable
and animal, on the islands situated even far without
the antarctic circle, is surprising, compared with the corresponding
parallels in the northern hemisphere. In South
Shetland in lat. 62° to 63° (same as Ferroe, or southern part
of Norway) AVeddell* states, “ None of the islands afford any
vegetation save a short straggling grass, which is found in
very small patches in places where there happens to be a
little soil. This, together with a moss similar to that which
is found in Iceland, appears in the middle of January, at
which time the islands are partially clear of snow.” In
Deception Island, one of the same group. Lieutenant Kendall,
says,t “ There was nothing in the shape of vegetation
except a small kind of lichen.” The island itself is partly
composed of ice and volcanic ashes interstratified. Another
curious proof of the rigour of the climate is mentioned:
“ Having observed a mound on the hill immediately above
this cove, I opened it, and found a rude coffin, the rotten
state of which bespoke its having been long consigned to the
earth; but the body had undergone scarcely any decomposition.
The legs were doubled up, and it was dressed in the
jacket and cap of a sailor, but neither they nor the countenance
were similar to those of an Englishman.
Sandwich Land, which is nearly three degrees further from
« W e d d e ll’s Voyage, p . 133.
f G e o g ra p h ic a l .lo iirn a l, 1830, p p . 63 a n d 66.
the pole, is thus described by Captain Cook (February 1st,
hottest time in the year, and in same latitude as north of
Scotland) : “ Every part was blocked or filled up witli
ice, and the whole country, from the summits of the mountains
down to the very brink of the cliffs which terminate the
coast, covered many fathoms thick with everlasting snow.
The clift's alone were aU which was to be seen like land.”
Again he adds, talking of two islets, “ These only were clear
of snow, and seemed covered with a green turf.” In Georgia,
lat. 54° to 55°, the bays are terminated by ice cliffs of considerable
height, and, according to Cook, the country “ in the
very height of summer, is in a manner wholly covered many
fathoms deep with frozen snow, but more especially on the
south-west coast.” The only vegetable is “ a strong-bladed
grass growing in tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss.”
Although 96 miles long and about ten broad, it possesses not
a single quadruped, and only one land bird, namely a small
titlark (an Anthus), a specimen of which I procured in the
Falklands. This bird, if undescribed, certainly well deserves
the name of antarcticus, for although not living within that
circle, it inhabits a more inhospitable region than any other
terrestrial animal. Anderson, in Cook’s Voyage, says, even
in Kerguelen Land (an island 120 miles long by 60 broad,
and situated in lat. 50°, corresponding to the extreme
southern point of England), “ The whole catalogue of plants
does not exceed sixteen or seventeen, including some sorts
of moss, and a beautiful species of lichen whicli grows
upon the rocks higher up than the rest of the vegetable productions.
Nor is there even the least appearance of a shrub
in the whole country.” It is doubtful whether there is a
single land bird; and then he adds, “ The hills are of a
moderate height; yet many of their tops were covered with
snow* at this time, though answering to our June.” These
statements forcibly prove the intemperance of the climate
even far without the frozen limits of the antarctic circle.
* I h a v e re a so n to b e liev e , th a t iceb e rg s a re fo rm ed o n tlie co a st d u r in g
a p a r t o f th e y e a r.
V O L . H I . '1'
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