212 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGES. 



0120 feet in altitude; Mount Richards, 4000 feet; Mount Crazier, 3250 ; Mount Wyville Thomson, 

 3160'; Mount Hooker, 2G00 ; Mount Moseley, 2400. Therefore, when viewed from the sea at a dis- 

 tance, the island presents a remarkable jagged outline of sharp peaks, which is most strikingly observed 

 from the south side. All the valleys run down to the sea, broadening out as they approach it ; and 

 the coast is broken up everywhere by deep sounds or fjords, which resemble closely in form the fjords 

 of Norway, and of all other parts of the world where fjords exist. They are long channel-like excava- 

 tions of the coast-line, occupied by arms of the sea, often shallower at the mouths than at the upper 

 extremities, and bounded on either hand by perpendicular cliffs. 



" Kerguelen is of volcanic formation as far as it has yet been investigated, and there is no doubt 

 that it is entirely so formed, the beds of coal alone excepted, and certain beds of red earth, which are 

 of the same origin as the coal, but merely different in that they have undergone a more intense 

 heating. It has undergone immense denudation, and on its whole north-eastern and southern regions 

 there is no trace of any volcanic cone or signs of comparatively modern volcanic action, as at Marion 

 Island. Every appearance bespeaks considerable antiquity. Nevertheless, it seems to be certain that 

 there exists towards the south-west of the island a still active volcano, with hot springs in its neigh- 

 bourhood. We fell in with an American whaling captain, Captain Fuller, who has been often on the 

 weather shore, and is well acquainted with the position of the volcano, and though he had not been 

 actually at it himself, some of his men had ; and in Tristan da Cunha we received independent 

 testimony in the matter from old sealers. 



" The appearance of the island in the region of the volcano must thus be very different from 

 that of the north-eastern and south-eastern portions. As necessarily follows from the presence of 

 fjords, the whole of the lower rock surface of the island shows most marked evidence of glaciation. 

 Christmas Harbour, almost on the extreme north of the island, is a small example of one of the 

 fjords. It is a deep inlet, with dark frowning cliffs on either hand at its entrance ; the land on either 

 side running out into long narrow promontories, which separate the harbour from another similar 

 fjord on the south and from a bay on the north. The promontories thus formed are high, and 

 bounded throughout almost their entire stretch by sheer precipices on either hand. On the north side 

 only of Christmas Harbour, somewhat above its mouth, does the land rise in a steep, broken slope, 

 which can be ascended directly from the sea. 



" At the termination seawards of the southern promontory is the well-known arched rock of 

 ( hristmas Harbour, a roughly rectangular, oblong mass, evidently formerly continuous directly with 

 the rest of the promontory, but now separated from it, except at its very base, by a chasm, and 

 perforated so as to form an arch. Above the high cliffs on the south side of the harbour towers up 

 a huge and imposing mass of black-looking rock with perpendicular faces; this overhanging some- 

 what towards the harbour, from the weathering out of soft strata beneath it, looks as if it might fall 

 some day and fill the upper part of the harbour. On the north side rises a flat-topped, rocky mass 

 1215 feet in height, called Table Mountain. 



" At the head of the harbour is a sandy beach and small stretch of flat land, as exists at the 

 heads of all the fjords ; and beyond this the land rises in a series of steps, separated by short cliffs 

 towards the bases of Table Mountain and the great rock on the south. 



" The flat stretch of land at the head of Christmas Harbour is covered with a thick, rank growth 

 of grass (Festuca coolcii), and a composite herb with feathery leaves and yellow flower {Cot n Ik pltimosa), 

 also with Azordla, as at Marion Island, with Accena, Montia fontana, and Callitriche vema about the 

 dampest places. The soil is black and peaty, and saturated with water. It is almost impossible to 



