PATAGONIAN CONIFERS. iy:> 



to a tree that is made by the meagre native vegeta- 

 tion of the Falkland Islands. 



My attention had already been directed at Eden 

 Harbour to the peculiar coniferous plants of this 

 region, and I here found the same species in better 

 condition. The most conspicuous, a small tree with 

 stiff pointed leaves somewhat like an araucaria, here 

 produced abundant fruit, which showed it to be a 

 Podocarpus {P. nubigena of Lindley). Another shrub 

 of the same family, but very different in appearance, 

 is a species oi Libocedrus, allied to the cypress of the 

 Old World, which tolerates even the inclement climate 

 of Hermite Island, near Cape Horn. The distribu- 

 tion of the various species of this genus is not a little 

 perplexing to the botanical geographer. This and 

 another species inhabit the west side of South America, 

 two are found in New Zealand, one in the island of 

 New Caledonia, one is peculiar to Southern China, 

 and one to Japan, while an eighth species belongs to 

 California. The most probable supposition is that 

 the home of the common ancestor of the genus was 

 in the circumpolar lands of the Antarctic Circle at a 

 remote period when that region enjoyed a temperate 

 climate ; but the processes by which descendants 

 from that stock reached such remote parts of the 

 earth are not easily conjectured. 



It was nearly dark when the unsuccessful sportsmen 

 returned with the boat, and but for the ship's lights 

 we should have scarcely been able to make out her 

 position. Some of the many stories of seamen cast 

 away in this inclement region came into my mind 

 during the short half-hour of our return, and, in the 



