288 VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL LIFE. [1840. 



butted) of Kerguelen's Land, is, perhaps, the only plant that 

 flourishes, with even tolerable vigor or luxuriance, as high 

 as 50° southern latitude. Beyond this, only the hardiest 

 lichens, and the very lowest order of plants, are seen. Cock- 

 burn's Island, in latitude 64° 12' S., and longitude 59° 49' 

 W.j presents the last appearances of vegetation. Unfriendly 

 as are the soil ana climate of this bleak spot, lichens are 

 found here as high as fourteen hundred feet above the sea ; 

 but coldness and moisture seem to be far less prejudicial to 

 their growth than the warmth of the sun, which causes them 

 to become crisp and parched, so that they crumble in pieces at 

 the slightest touch. 



The animal kingdom is much better represented. Here 

 may be seen the extensive "rookeries," as they are termed by 

 seamen, of countless numbers of seals ; the feeding-grounds, 

 abounding with animalcules and Crustacea, of whales who 

 have never yet been disturbed by their great enemy, man ; 

 and the teeming abodes of penguins and petrels, whose cries 

 are ever heard rising shrill and clear, as if in proud defiance, 

 above the wild howling of the wintry blast. There are many 

 of the large hunch-back and sperm whales, and it is almost 

 impossible to count the numerous seals, that may be discov- 

 ered on a pleasant sunny day, enjoying their favorite pastime 

 of basking on the ice. Sea-lions and sea-elephants are abund- 

 ant. The former is a large earless seal, having a heavy 

 mane like the lion : the latter also belongs to the seal family, 

 and is sometimes called the elephant seal ; it is from twenty 

 to thirty feet long, and from fifteen to eighteen feet in circum- 

 ference ; the full-grown male possesses the power of elongat- 

 ing his nose into a proboscis, or trunk, about twelve inches 

 in length, and hence the appellation which it usually bears, 

 has been bestowed upon it. The Antarctic seas are filled 

 with the molluscous and minute marine animals on which 

 the whales feed. One of the most remarkable varieties of 

 the finny tribe found in their waters, is the " killer :" this is 

 a fish about twenty feet long, of a brownish color on the 

 back, and white on the belly, having a long dorsal fin, and 



