OF THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE. 287 
All those plants whose stems rise a little above ground, are 
flexible, and bow beneath the blast, while the chief part are 
of lilliputian growth, and form such dense and interwoven 
masses, that the very soil must flee away in dust, ere they 
could quit their position. Nothing can be more singular 
than the enormous tufts of Bolax, which at first are no bigger 
than molehills; but, by the constant addition of new shoots, 
swell in all directions, and attain a height and breadth of 
some feet. A resinous and strong-smelling substance con- 
tinually exudes from all parts of these plants, and is percep- 
tible at a considerable distance. If carefully examined and 
analyzed, it is probable this gum might be found to possess 
some valuable properties.” 
M. d'Urville visited Mount Chátellux, 17 miles distant in 
a straight line from his ship. “Two days were devoted to 
this excursion, in each of which we walked for fifteen hours ; 
and this long walk gave us a good opportunity of examining 
the nature of the island, the result of which was that the 
farther you proceed inland, the less varied is the vegetation. 
Once past the dunes, marshes and rocks, which have each 
some peculiar plants, and the country stretches for miles in 
uniform plains, solely producing the three Grasses mentioned 
above, and a few thinly scattered tufts of the Bolax. When 
the ground rises again, the variety becomes greater, and on - 
the summit of Mount Chátellux, I found almost all the spe- 
cies that had been seen in the lower situations, though re- 
duced to half or a third of their usual dimensions; except, 
indeed, the Bolax, which grew as strong as elsewhere, though 
Springing out of the entirely naked rock. Five plants alone 
appeared peculiar to these elevated spots; a beautiful 4spi- 
dium (A. mohrioides) ; the curious Nassauvia serpens ; Ceno- 
myce vermicularis, white as snow; and two minute plants 
which grow in the closest tufts, Drapetes muscoides, origi- 
nally found by Commerson in the Straits of Magelhaens, and 
a new Valeriana, which I named sedifolia. The beautiful 
Lomaria Magellanica is rare on the plains, but abounds among 
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