OF THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE. 263 
always covered with frozen snow, and many of my best 
Lichens and Mosses were obtained by hammering at the icy 
tufts, or sitting on them till they thawed. The days were so 
short, and the country so high, snowy and barren, that I 
never could go to any great distance from the harbour, though 
I several times tried for it, by starting before daylight. As 
far as I proceeded, the vegetation did not differ from that of 
the Bays. A boating excursion was undertaken to explore to 
the southward of the island. I volunteered to accompany it, 
but was advised to wait for a second, and my superior officer, 
the surgeon, went. The party returned after some days, 
without having accomplished anything; the officer who led 
them found it impracticable for loaded men to travel by 
land, over rocks, round bays, and through snow-drifts ; and 
when they took to the boat, the furious gales almost drove 
them out to sea. I went several boating excursions, and on 
one was dismasted and nearly swamped, so Capt. Ross 
would allow no more to be sent: Two Lycopodia, (one, a 
splendid species,) and a Fern, were on this occasion added by 
Mr. M?Cormick to my collections." 
Coal and fossil-wood also abound in this most singular 
country, the latter was found lying in immense trunks, 
bedded in the solid basaltic rock ! 
The botanical productions of this large island may be thus 
summed up. "There were gathered in all, about one hundred 
and thirty plants, and in the following proportion. * One 
Fungus, one Chara, thirty-eight species of Alga, and thirty 
of Lichens, ten of Conferva, one Marchantia, and ten Junger- 
mannie, twenty-three Mosses, two Lycopodia, and a single 
Fern; five Grasses, and one Juncus.— One species in each of 
the following Natural Orders,—Amaranthacee ? Crucifere, 
Ranunculacee, Composite, Portulacee, Rubiacee, Haloragee, 
Umbellifere, Rosacee, and Caryophyllee? Of two plants it 
Was not possible to define the affinities. G 
I did my best to collect every thing that Kerguelen’s — 
Island afforded, not neglecting the most insignificant b 
: T2 E CN 
