CHAi'. IV.] THE VOYAGE HOME. 185 



grass grows in dense tufts from six to ten feet liigli. Tlie leaves 

 and stems are most excellent fodder, and extremely attractive 

 to cattle ; but the lower j)ortions of the stems and the crowns 

 of the roots have unluckily a sweet, nutty flavor, which makes 

 them irresistible, and cattle and pigs and all creatures, lierbivo- 

 rous and omnivorous, crop the tussocks to the ground, when the 

 rain, getting into the crowns, rots the roots ; or if they have the 

 means, they tear them out bodily. The work of extermination 

 has proceeded rapidly, and now the tussock-grass is confined to 

 patches in a narrow border round the shore, and to some of the 

 outlying islands. When we were lying off Port Louis, at the 

 head of Berkeley Sound, there was a pretty little islet thickly 

 covered with a perfectly even crop of tussock-grass about eight 

 feet high, and so dense that it could be mown w^itli a scythe. 

 We sent a boat's crew for a supply for the animals on board, 

 by whom it was highly appreciated. 



The peat of the Falkland Islands is very different in char- 

 acter from that of the North of Europe ; cellular plants enter 

 scarcely, if at all, into its composition, and it is formed almost 

 entirely of the roots and matted foliage and stems of Empetrimi 

 Q'ubrimi, a variety of the common " crow-berry " of the Scottish 

 hills, with red berries, called by the Falklanders the " diddle- 

 dee " berry ; of Myrtus nummularia^ a little creej)ing myrtle, 

 which also produces red berries w^ith a pleasant flavor and leaves, 

 which are used as a substitute for tea; of Caltha appeiidiculata^ 

 a dwarf species of the marsh-marigold ; and of some sedges and 

 sedge-like plants, such as Astelia pu7nila^ Gahnardia australis, 

 and Rostkovia grandiflora. The roots and stems of these, pre- 

 served almost unaltered, may be traced down several feet into 

 the peat, but finally the whole structure becomes obliterated, 

 and the whole is reduced to an amorphous carbonaceous mass. 

 The general flora of the camp is much like that of the low 

 grounds of Fuegia and Patagonia; but one misses the pretty 

 flowering shrubs, especially the Pernettyas and the lovely Phi- 

 II.— 13 



