242 CLIMATE AND PKODUCTIONS OF [chap. m. 



deep that no anchorage could be found. We were in consequence 

 obliged to stand off and on in this narrow arm of the sea, during 

 a pitch-darlv night of fourteen hours long. 



June lOth. — In the morning we made the best of our way 

 into the open Pacific. The Western coast generally consists of 

 low, roimded, quite barren hills of granite and greenstone. Sir 

 J. Narborough called one part South Desolation, because it is 

 " so desolate a land to behold :" and well indeed might he say so. 

 Outside the main islands, there are numberless scattered rocks on 

 which the long swell of the open ocean incessantly rages. We 

 passed out between the East and West Furies ; and a little far- 

 ther northward there are so many breakers that the sea is called 

 the Milky Way. One sight of such a coast is enough to make a 

 landsman dream for a week about shipwrecks, peril, and death ; and 

 with this sight we bade farewell for ever to Tierra del Fuego. 



The following discussion on the climate of the southern parts 

 of the continent with relation to its productions, on the snow- 

 line, on the extraordinarily low descent of the glaciers, and 

 on the zone of perpetual congelation in the antarctic islands, may 

 be passed over by any one not interested in these curious sub- 

 jects, or the final recapitulation alone may be read. I shall, 

 however, here give only an abstract, and must refer for details 

 to the Thirteenth Chapter and the Appendix of the fo-iv^r 

 edition of this work. 



O/i the Climate and Productions of Tierra del Fueg~o ana 

 of the Soiith-ivest Coast. — The following table gives the mean 

 temperature of Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and, for 

 comparison, that of Dublin : — 



f . , Summer Winter Mean of Summer 



l^atituae. 'lerap. Temp an,l Winter. 



Tierra del Fuego . . 53° 38'S. 50° 33°-U8 4P-54 



Falkland Islands . . 51 30 S. 51 — — 



Dublhi . . . . 53 21N. 59-54 39*2 49-37 



Hence we see that the central part of Tierra del Fuego is 

 colder in winter, and no less than 9^° less hot in summer, than 

 Dublin. According to Yon Buch the mean temperature of 

 July (not the hottest month in the year) at Saltenfiord in Nor- 

 way, is as high as 57 \8, and this place is actually 13^ nearer 



