VISIT TO KEKGUELEN'S LAND 101 



During our stay I devoted all my time to collect every- 

 thing in the botanical way, and I hope you will not be dis- 

 appointed with the fruits of my poor exertions. You say 

 you hope I shall double the Flora and I have done so.^ I 

 was much surprised at finding the plants in a good state of 

 flower and fruit (all but two). 



My time was my own to leave the ship when I Hked, for 

 the Captain took off all restrictions to my going where I 

 Hked. My rambles were generally solitary, through the 

 wildest country I ever saw. The hill tops are always covered 

 with snow and frost, and many of my best little Lichens were 

 gathered by hammering out the tufts or sitting on them till 

 they thawed. The days were so short and the country so 

 high, snowy, and bad that I never could get far from the 

 harbour, though I several times tried by starting before Hght. 

 As far as I went the vegetation did not differ from that of 

 the bays. . . . 



I went several boating excursions in the neighbourhood, 

 and in one was dismasted and nearly swamped. So Captain 

 Eoss would send no more, and I am promised to be of a longer 

 and better party on the next opportunity. Two Lycopodia, 

 one splendid one, and a Fern were all Mr. McCormick added 

 to my collection. He brought numerous splendid quartz 

 crystals and zeolites, &c., together with lots of coal and fossil 

 wood. The latter we had long before found, and I first 

 detected it lying in immense trunks in the soHd basaltic 

 rock ; its existence here is wonderful in the extreme ; I 

 have plenty of specimens. 



[In the absence of trees, the coloured patches of Lichens 

 on the hillsides, the heaving belt of seaweed girdhng the 

 shores, took the place of forest green or autumnal tints.] 



The Lichens appear here to form a greater comparative 

 portion of the vegetable world than in any other portion of 

 the globe, especially when it is considered that from the want 

 of large trees there can be no parasitical species. The rocks 

 from the water's edge to the summit of the hills are appar- 

 ently painted with them, their fronds adhering so closely to 

 the stone that they are with difi&culty detached ; in other 



* Sir William had written : ' I wish I could have a day's botanising with 

 you in Kerguelen's Land. I think we could at least double the Flora. Look 

 well to the Cryptogamia and see how far south the Algae extend and what are 

 the species.' 



