REPORT OX THE BOTANY OF THE ISLANDS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN. 141 



firewood, but there is still plenty of wood on the island, and the trunks of the trees on the upper 

 plateau reach a diameter of 15 inches, as I was told by the inhabitants. The wood supply is not 

 almost exhausted, as is stated in the Cruise of the " Galatea." Eymawphyllum ceruginomm was found 

 in this gully, and a large specimen of lomaria boryana was picked up, detached, apparently fallen 

 trom above. In a deep ditch near one of the cottages are two or three willow bushes, which, in this 

 sheltered situation, are doing well. The water of the streams running down the cliffs opposite the 

 anchorage was found to have a temperature of 50° F., and one of the fresh-water ponds at sea-level 

 a temperature of 54° F. The greater cold of the stream is obviously due to the influence of the 

 snow-water from the peak above. 



" The surf throws up a bank of seaweed on the beach ; but the heavy waves, dashing on the 

 coarse boulders of which the beach is composed, pound up the algae to such an extent that a useful 

 specimen is scarcely to be found. The island has a belt of Macrocijstis pyrifera growing round it. 

 The part between the anchorage and the shore was in about fifteen fathoms. 



" Inaccessible Island. — On the N.E. side, where the Challenger anchored, the island presents a 

 range of perpendicular cliffs about 1000 feet in height, resembling those of Tristan. Beneath the 

 cliffs is a considerable tract of uneven lower land, composed of de'bris from the cliffs above, and 

 scattered over with fallen rocks. The vegetation of the cliffs is closely similar to that of those of 

 Tristan, but the lower land is covered over its greater part with a dense growth of the tall reed-like 

 Sjiartina aruadinacca, which forms a vast penguin rookery. Amidst the sea of grass, on the summits 

 of slight elevations, are patches of Phylica nitida. The trees grow thickly together, and their 

 branches meet overhead. The ground beneath them is free from tussock (Spartina), and covered 

 with ferns, mosses, and sedges, with Accena sanguisorboc, and the tea plant (C'henopodium tomentosum ), 

 in great abundance, the latter here forming a small bush with woody stems. The trunks of the 

 trees are covered with lichens. In a swamp near the penguin rookery a moss was found in 

 abundance, and a sedge {Carer insular is), different from those noticed elsewhere, together with 

 II yd 'rocotylc capitata, found also in Tristan, but not obtained in flower. 



" Two Germans, one of whom had been a sub-lieutenant in the army in the late war, and who 

 is well educated and highly intelligent, have been bving on the island for two years. They gave 

 me much information about the plants. They have cultivated potatoes and cabbages, and several 

 other vegetables, and have introduced two species of clover, which are spreading rapidly. They 

 probably also brought with them to the island a Convolvidus, which is very abundant on the 

 cultivated ground near their hut. The ascent to the top of the island is impracticable from the 

 side on which I was landed ; and Captain Nares considered it unsafe to land a boat on the north 

 side, where the path to the summit lies. No plants, therefore, were obtained from the higher land. 

 The Germans, however, who frequently spend months together there, say that the plants there are 

 of the same kinds as those below ; but, in addition, grow the Empetrwm of the other islands, 

 Lomaria boryana, a I; m, said by them to be different from the one found in their company 



on Nichtincale Island, and a small daisy-like flower (Lagcnopliora commcrsonii). The tussock grass, 

 which spreads up the slopes and straggles up the cliffs to the summit, grows also in large patches on 

 the upper plateau. Phylica nitida grows in abundance there also, and Nertera depressa, the berries 

 of which are the favourite food of the remarkable endemic thrush of the Tristan group (A'esocichla 

 eremita). The berries of Phylica are eaten by the bunting (Emberiza brasilicnsis). On the sea- 

 shore, several species of seaweed grow in considerable quantity, attached to the rocks in shallow 



