286 NOTES ON THE BOTANY 
Nature, so fertile and varied under the Equator, becomes more 
uniform in northern regions, and having apparently lavished 
all her types on the vegetation of the tropics, is reduced, so 
to speak, to assign similar genera to the most widely-severed 
portions of our globe. 
“The majority of plants, inhabiting the Malouines, have 
been found also by Commerson, near the Straits of Magel- 
haens, and by Forster on Tierra del Fuego ; thus leading to 
the supposition that these islands once formed a portion of 
the great South American continent. The soil is everywhere 
turfy below, and so spongy as to imbibe moisture with great 
rapidity and leave the grassy surface dry. This turf is much 
thicker in the interior than near the sea-shore, and has fre- 
quently such abrupt perpendicular edges as resemble the 
work of man. These natural ramparts are not uncommon. 
on the high grounds, often rising to an elevation of 4 or 5 
feet above the surrounding land, and their formation is à 
subject of difficult explanation. "They afford a most desirable 
shelter from the winds to the numerous herds of wild horses. 
Streams of fresh and pure water everywhere intersect the 
islands; and though they are marshy at the brink, the close 
and firm nature of the vegetation prevents the earth from 
being seen, or the feet of the traveller from sinking. There 
are fine lakes in the plains, and basons of water on the very 
summit of the mountains. Water is everywhere abundant ; 
but most of the plants are of a resinous nature, or furnished 
with a varnished surface, which protects them from the effects 
of so much wet. The dry nature of the plants was shown by 
the facility with which I preserved my specimens, notwith- 
standing the cold weather and the rains which never ceased to 
fall during the whole time of our anchorage at the Islands, be- 
tween the 18th of Nov. and the 18th of Dec., correspond- 
ing with May and June of our hemisphere. 
* This residence was long enough to show how fearful are 
the winds in these islands, and how admirably fitted the vege- 
table productions of the soil are to resist their violence. 
