248 CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS OF [chap. xi. 



plou^hin^ up of the sea-bottom by the stranding- of icebergs, ami 

 by the matter transported on them. Few geoh)gists now doubt 

 that tliose erratic boulders wliich lie near lofty mountains, have 

 biien pusjied forward by the glaciers themselves, and that tliose 

 distant from mountains, and ejnbeddcd in subaqueous deposits, 

 have been conveyed thither either on iceberq^s, or frozen in coa>t- 

 ice. The connection between the transportal of boulders and the 

 Drcsence of ice iii some form, is strikingly shown by their geo- 

 graphical distribution over the earth. In South America they 

 are not found further than 48' of latitude, measured from the 

 southern pole; in North America it appears that the limit of 

 tluur transportal extends to 53^^ from the northern pole; but in 

 Europe to not more than 40^ of latitude, measured from the 

 same point. On the other hand, in the intertropical parts of 

 America, Asia, and Africa, they have never been observed ; nor 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, nor in Australia.* 



On the Climate and Productioits cf the Antarctic Idands. — 

 Considering the rankness of the vegetation in Tierra del Fuego, 

 and on the coast northward of it, the condition of the islands south 

 and south-west of America is truly surprising. Sandwich Land, 

 in the latitude of the north part of Scotland, was found by Cook, 

 during the hottest month of the year, " covered many fathoms 

 thick with everlasting snow ;" and there seems to be scarcely any 

 vegetation. Georgia, an island 96 miles long and 10 broad, in 

 the latitude of Yorkshire, " in the very height of summer, is in 

 a manner wholly covered with frozen snow." It can boast only 

 of mo?s, some tufts of grass, and wild burnet : it has only one 

 land-bird {Anthus correndcra)^ yet Iceland, which is 10° nearer 

 the pole, has, according to Mackenzie, fifteen land-binls. The 

 South Shetland Islands, in the same latitude as the southern half 

 of Norway, possess only some lichens, moss, and a little giass; 

 and Lieut. Kendall -f found tlie bay, in which he was at anchor, 

 beginning to freeze at a period corresponding with our 8th of 

 September. The soil here consists of ice and volcanic ashes 



* I have given details ('the first, I believe, published) on tliis snbjtct- in the 

 first edition, and in the Appendix to it. 1 have there shoun that the appa- 

 rent exceptions to the absence of erratic boulders in certain hot countries, 

 are due to erroneous observiitior.s : several statements there given, I have 

 since found confirmed by various authors. 



t Geographical Journal, 183U, pp. G5, GG. 



