Bd. IV: 12) THE VEGETATION IN SOUTH GEORGIA. 15 



called Papua Cove in honour of a colony of Pygoscelis papua living there. Round 

 the shore is one of the most luxuriant tussock-communities I ever saw; I measured 

 some individuals fully 2 m high. From the cove a valley extends SSE; its lower 

 part is filled with morainic hills, the outer sides of which are clothed with tussock; 

 on the wind-exposed tops there is a meagre tundra of mosses and lichens. We pass 

 a small lake, » bordered by tundra-meadows, which extend upwards finally dissolving 

 into stray patches; the valley narrows into a gorge, largely filled with snow and 

 flanked by steep piles of stones, where but few mosses or lichens are seen. At 

 417 m one reaches a pass N of the peak of Mt. Skottsberg; from here it is possible 

 to descend into Bore Valley. 



The shore E of Papua Cove is a steep cliff without a beach or a continuous 

 plant-cover — only patches of tussock or other grasses. Four km E May Cove opens, 

 one of our principal stations. To the W this snug little cove is headed by a low 

 promontory where the tussock grows luxuriantly, to the E are steep cliffs with much 

 Colobanthus subulatus. Round the cove is a beach of pebbles with a beautiful Poa- 

 ,4crtr//<7-association. Going S one ascends into the Bore Valley. This valley was 

 once occupied by a glacier, just as was the Papua Valley, and here also the lowe 

 part is occupied by characteristic, rounded hills, clothed with Poa or mats of Acaetia 

 adscendens, the former mostly keeping to the north slopes. The tussock does not 

 extend very far into the valley, perhaps 1.5 km or so. On the steep side of Mt. 

 Skottsberg there is scarcely any close vegetation and the /^«-association does not 

 extend south of the innermost corner of the cove, this certainly owing to the steep- 

 ness of the mountain, where slips frequently take place, for on the opposite side 

 conditions are very different. Here Mt. Duse rises culminating in a steep ridge 

 (495 m). The north and east slopes are clothed with a dense tussock-carpet, 

 reaching a height of about 200 m. On the slope towards May Cove (Plate 2) the 

 tussock climbs the mountain in tongues and patches of various shapes with a less 

 vertical extension as one advances into the valley; the last patches are found about 

 2.5 km from the cove. Tundra-meadows (Plate 5: 2) occupy all the level ground up 

 to the pass (194 m); here higher plants are more scarce. Descending to Pot Harbour 

 one has ample opportunity to observe the importance of exposure, for the southern 

 half of the valley is one extensive field of rocks and stones, with here and there a 

 solitary grass-tuft or a patch of mosses and lichens. The difference is indeed striking. 

 Round Pot Harbour we again meet a finer vegetation. The small promontory at 

 the south end of Mt. Duse is clothed with Poa, which also fringes — or rather 

 once fringed, for much has been altered since the establishment of the whaling 

 station — the cove and also is seen on the edge of the plateau south of it. (Fig. 3.) 



* not on the map, p. 14. 



