36 NATURAL HISTORY OF KERGUELEN ISLAND. 



In some instances the projecting rocks have become so undermined 

 by the action of the elements as to present very remarkable outlines. 

 An immense mass of basalt, for example, facing northwest, some four 

 miles from our station, seemed to be held by the strength of its material 

 alone, so far did it overhang its center of gravity ; its base being deeply 

 grooved and carved, as if by the action of the wind. 



The streams are numerous, and furnish an excellent supply of pure, 

 very cold water ; sufficiently pure, indeed, to be used by the photog- 

 raphers. Strange to say, these streams seemed to be absolutely without 

 animal life, perhaps* owing to the extreme coldness of the water (aver- 

 aging 42° Fahrenheit). Ponds are frequen.t on both high and low land, 

 and often of considerable size. In many places are extensive quaking 

 bogs, and here and there are to be seen deep pits where the surface has 

 fallen in, sometimes to the depth of 30 or 40 feet. Quicksands, or rather 

 mudholes, are said by the whalers to abound, and in most unexpected 

 places. They tell many stories of shipmates who have undertaken to ex- 

 plore the island and have never returned, supposed to have been swal- 

 lowed up in sink-holes. Persons connected with the transit parties often 

 got upon insecure ground, but no serious accident followed in any case. 



The general aspect of the island is desolate in the extreme. Snow 

 covers all of the higher hills, against which the abrupt outlines of their 

 dark basaltic ridges are most dearly defined. Only along the sea- shore is 

 a narrow belt of herbage, of which the singular Kerguelen cabbage is at 

 once the largest and most conspicuous comj)onent. The weather is also 

 extremely inclement, there being scarcely a day without snow or rain. 

 Violent gales of wind prevail to an extent unknown in the same northern 

 latitude. It was often impossible to go on foot any considerable distance 

 from the home-station on account of the severity of the wind. Sir J. 

 Clarke Eoss tells of one of his men being actually blown into the sea, and 

 of saving himself from a like accident only by lying flat on the ground. 

 Little squalls called "woolleys" ( willy- waws?) are particularly dreaded 

 by the sealers. A small white sphere of cloud is seen high up on the 

 mountain-side, and immediately comes down with immense speed and 

 violence, often burying vessels bows under. These squalls are danger- 

 ous not ohly by their violence but by their nearly vertical direction. 

 In such a squall, on the 11th September, the entire transit expedition, 

 with many officers of the Swatara, narrowly escaped with their lives 

 and the loss of two boats, being overtaken while on their way from shore 

 to the ship, anchored not more than a mile away. ^ 



