142 PRINCE EDWARD ISLANDS. 



of sea-birds inhabiting the islands, and nesting, as they do, 

 amongst the herbage, may have been of influence in the 

 matter by transporting seeds attached to their feathers or feet. 

 Most of the birds are of widely wandering habits. 



The island of Marion, the larger of the two forming the 

 group, and on which alone we had an opportunity of landing, 

 is about 1 1 miles in length, 8 in extreme breadth, and about 

 80 square miles in area. The highest point is about 4,250 

 feet above the sea-level. The island is entirely volcanic, and 

 presents the usual features of volcanic islands which are of 

 considerable age. The highest land is in the centre ; and 

 irregular slopes lead down to the sea on all sides. These 

 slopes are of very moderate inclination, and are broken in 

 numerous places by shallow valleys bounded by cliffs where 

 the more ancient flows of lava have suffered denudation. 

 These valleys are occupied by more recent lava-flows, which 

 still retain their rough pinnacled upper surface. Further, all 

 over the slopes and summits of the island are scattered, 

 irregularly, numerous small cones, formed mostly of conspicu- 

 ously red scorise. The lava is basaltic, presenting in many 

 places in the cliffs a columnar structure. Some sand gathered 

 on the shores of a small fresh-water lake near the sea was full 

 of augite and olivine crystals. 



The island was sighted, together with Prince Edward Island, 

 on December 25th, but was not approached closely till the 

 morning of December 26th. The upper part of the island was 

 covered with snow, commencing, as usual, on the slopes as 

 patches lying unmelted in sheltered hollows, succeeded by a 

 general thin coating or powdering over, through which the 

 black rock showed out in all directions, and above this, again, 

 on the highest cones and peaks, as a continuous sheet of 

 glistening white. The summits were enveloped in clouds, 

 which litted or dispersed in a partial manner from time to 

 time. Below the snow and up amongst the patchy region, the 

 slopes of the island were covered with a coating of green, 

 contrasting with the dark cliffs and red lower cones, which 

 were almost destitute of verdure and had very little snow upon 

 them. Here and there large patches of yellow showed out 

 amidst the green, and were conspicuous even at some distance 

 from the shore. It was found that these patches were formed 

 of mosses. The mosses, indeed, occurring thus in patches, 

 some dark, some nearly white, and others yellow, form the 

 principal features in the vegetation as seen from a distance, 

 showing out, as they do, amongst the very uniform mixture of 

 phanerogamic plants. The small rocky projections on the 

 rough surfaces of the modern lava-flows, standing out dark 



