312 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF THE GLACIAL EPOCH. 



tilde is Tierra del Fiiego, in about 55°. Tliere is a small settlement on Falk- 

 land Island, a little south of 50°. St. Paul's and Tristan d'Acunha have also 

 some inhabitants, their position being in 37° and 38° — about the same 

 distance south of the equator as the Azores are north. The diflerence in the 

 character of the climates of these islands in corresponding positions north 

 and south of the equator is indeed remarkable.* Kerguelen Island, in about 

 the same latitude as Prussia, and half as large as that country, has no inhab- 

 itants. The mean temperature on the Falkland Islands of the warmest 

 month is 55° (F.), and of the coldest, 37°. 5. The mean of the year is 47°. 

 This shows, as contrasted with the low mean temperature of portions of the 

 inhabited parts of Europe, Asia, and the North Polar region, that high mean 

 temperature is less important than is ordinarily supposed, and that a very 

 cold winter may be tolerable if the summer is warm. In short, an even 

 climate, within certain limits, is less desirable than one of great extremes. 



The amount of land in the South Polar region is estimated by Behm and 

 Wagner at 250,000 square miles,t which is not quite one-third the area of 

 Greenland, as given by the same authorities. But nothing can be more 

 uncertain than this estimate of the land surface in a part of the world 

 of which so little is known, for the unexplored region at the South Pole 

 embraces an extent of over 8,000,000 square miles. This was formerly 

 considered as being chiefly; or largely, land, and called the " Antarctic Con- 

 tinent " ; but Petermannt has shown how little foundation there is for this 



* It seems somewhat doubtful whether the small settlement on Tristan (with a population, in 1867, numbering 

 eighty-six souls) can be continued after the scanty supply of firewood has been exhausted. See Voyage of the 

 Challenger. The Atlantic. London, 1S77, Vol. II. pp. 157-176. 



t This estimate includes several small groups of islands north of the -Antarctic Circle — namely. South Georgia, 

 and the South Orkney and South Shetland Islands. The land discovered by Ross (Victoria Land) is put down at 

 127,000 square miles ; "Wilkes Land" at half that, its average breadth being assumed as fifty miles. The so- 

 called " Wilkes Land " — a name not usually recognized on English maps — consists of a chain of headlands 

 stretching in close proximity to the Arctic Circle, between the lueridians of 95° and 160° E. longitude, and sup- 

 posed by the Chief of the United States Exploring Expedition (1838 - 42) to form a continuous continental mass. 

 Captain Wilkes did not, however, land at any point, or approach the coast near enough to fix its exact jjosition, 

 and in fact a consi<lerable portion of the newly discovered continent was afterw-ards sailed over by Koss, who 

 found several hundred fathoms of water on it. It is doubtful if Wilkes's discoveries would now be accepted 

 as genuine, had not land been positively ascertained to exist at various points along the line of his reported con- 

 tinent both before and since his expedition. Wilkes Land was first seen by Balleny, in 1839 ; and this navigator 

 left no doubt of the truthfulness of his assertion of its existence, since he lauded and also saw volcanoes in eiu|i- 

 tion. The French expedition, under D'Urville, also discovered land (calle<l by him Terre Adelie) in the vacant 

 space between two points laiil down by Balleny — Claire Land and Balleny Islands. These all form a part of the 

 coast line of Wilkes Land. Tlie name of Balleny is not mentioned in Wilkes's narrative of his explorations. 



J See an article entitled "Neue Karte der Siiil-Polar Regionen," in Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1863, p. 410. 



