'H l ,
212 F LO EA A NTAECTICA . [Fiieyia, the
America; it is of an irregularly four-sided figirre, borrnded on tlie north by the strait of
Hagalhaens, and on the east and west respectively by the South Atlantic and South racific
Oceans, wliilst its southern shores are washed by the Antarctic Sea; the iiiaiii body of land
lies between the 53rd and 56th parallels of latitude and the G4th and 70th degi'ees of west
longitude, and its greatest extension is from east to west, indicated by a diagonal of 500 miles.
The general appearance of the whole has been aptly compai'ed, by Mr. Darwin, to what would
be presented by a pai-tially submerged chain of moiiiitains. These islands are, in fact, formed
by the southem termination of the gi-eat Cordillera that traverses both Americas, wliich here
trends to the eastwai-d, and whose fm-ther extension is probably indicated by South Georgia
in the same latitude; and possibly also by Prince Edwai-d’s Island, the Crozets, and Kerguelen’s
Land still more to the east, situated though these be in another ocean. The natural
features ot Fuegia have been admii-ably described by various voyagers, and more particularly
by Cook, King, Fitzroy, and Dari\-in, to whose wi-itings I -s\-ould refer for more particular information.
The exposed moiuitaiii-tops rise to a height of 7000 feet above the level of the
sea, and the lower limit of perpetual snow is reckoned at 3500-4000 feet.
The botanical featm-es exhibited by this country are not circumscribed by its geographical
limits; along the north-east shores the very distmct Flora of East Patagonia accompanies
the geological foi-mation prolonged there from the Patagonian plains. On the south-west and
south sides again, the vegetation is a continuation of tliat of "West Patagonia, and is characteristic
of the western flank of the CordlUei-a, fi-om South Chili to Cape Horn. Thus it is that
we find the Andes dividing two botanical regions from the North Polar almost to the Antarctic
circle. The greater part of Fuegia is formed by the Andes alone; but the plants of the northeast
portion, where the granitic formation of Patagonia introduces a change in the vegetation
foreign to that of Tierra del Fuego, will be necessarily included in the present Flora.
The Deciduous Beech {Fagus antarctka), is the most distinguishing botanical production
of this country. In company with the Evergreen Beech {F. Forsteri), it covers the land, especially
on the west coasts, as far north as the Chonos Archipelago, in latitude 45° south. It
is hai-dly seen in the north-east portions of Fuegia proper, northward of Staten Land, and
though abimdant on the west flanks of the Andes, tlirough fomteen degrees of latitude, is
unknou-n on the Atlantic side of Patagoniat- I have assumed therefore the shores of the
shores ; and again, that the botany of the North Atlantic Islands, the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries, though
these groups are situated in the -westerly winds, contain a large proportion of European species. The violence of
the perennial westerly gales to the southward of 4.5° is proverbial amongst sea-faring men; such winds earned
H.M.S. ‘ Chanticleer ’ from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope, a distance of four thousand miles, in twenty-seven
days, and have enabled an oceanic fowl, the Cape pigeon, to maintain its position close to a ship dni-ing the whole ot
that distance ; but still I am not inclined to attribute the prevalence of the Fuegian Flora over so vast on area to
their influence, when exerted against many other opposing agents.
t Trees albed to these seem to have characterized the ancient or fossb flora of Fuegia, for T ow/c to Mr. Darwin’s
kindness impressions of the leaves of three apparently distinct species of deciduous Beech, and which arc mentioned
in that gentleman’s journal.
Falklands, etc] F LO EA ANTAECTICA . 213
strait of Magalhaens to be the northern limit of the Fuegian Flora eastward of Port Famine,
and have included in, or rather added to that Flora, all the known plants of the Pacific side
of the Andes, reaching north to the Chonos Archipelago, The latter position is peculiar, in
the Beech being there replaced, at the level of the sea. with other trees ; by the sudden change
in the aspect of the coast vegetation that the flora of Chiloe, immediately to the northward,
presents ; and by its being only a few miles beyond the “ glacier-bound Gulf of Penas,” where
perennial ice descends to the level of the ocean in a latitude nearly midway between the
Equator and the Antarctic Pole.
The successive labours of Commerson, Banks and Solander, and of Menzies, early called
the attention of Botanists to the singidar aspect of the Fuegian Flora, apparently incompatible
in its luxuriance with the rigour of the climate. The subsequent exertions of Captain King
and Mr. Anderson, and of Darwin, during the voyages of Captain Fitzroy, of D ’Urville, and
the officers of our own late Antarctic Expedition, have nearly exhausted the Phænogamic
productions. Much remains, however, to he done amongst the lower Orders, for the last-
named expedition procured from a small island in the immediate vicinity of Cape Horn, more
than twice as many Cryptogamic species as had been previously detected in the whole of
Tierra del Fuego. These, however, hardly affect the general aspect of the vegetation, which
may now be considered as satisfactorily known.
The Falkland Islands rank next in botanical importance to Fuegia. Though lying to the
northward of the main body of that coimtry, tliefr vegetation is so influenced by climate and by
some other peculiarities common to these islands and the Patagonian plains, that they produce
no tree whatever. They are situated between the parallels of 51° and 53°, and the meridians
of 575° “ id 615° west, aud consist of an eastern and western island, nearly equal in size, and
together forming an oval, ivhose axis lies east and west and extends about 160 miles. The
general outline is jagged, like that of Fuegia, and similarly indented by deep inlets and ramifying
bays ; but their level or undulating surface, never rising above 2000 feet, and the geological
formation, bear no resemblance to an archipelago formed by a submerged chain of
mountains. Altogether, the Botanical and other characters of the Falklands are allied to the
Atlantic coast ot Patagonia, opposite to the strait of Magalhaens, from whence they ai-c only
300 miles distant.
The most evident causes for the absence of trees in the Falkland Islands are the dislocation
or removal of that group from the main land ; their comparatively plane surface, evei-y-
where exposed to the violence of the westerly gales, and more especially to the rapid evaporation
and sudden changes in temperature and in other meteorological phenomena. The
southerly and westerly winds are violent, cold, and often accompanied by heavy snow-storms ;
the easterly and northerly arrive satmated with warmer sea vapoims, which, qiiicldy condensing
over the already chilled surface of the soil, form fogs and mists that intercept the sun’s rays ;
whilst the north-westerly winds arc singularly dry and parching, from the influence of the
Patagonian plains over which they blow. Such sudden alternations from heat to cold, and
2 u