FALKLAND ISLANDS. 479 



occupy the northern districts, and which attain in the culminating peak of Mount 

 Adam an altitude of 2,320 feet. 



It is obvious from the indentations of the coasts, the deep straits separating 

 the two chief members of the group and the hundred clustering islets, and 

 from the traces of ancient glaciers, that the Falklands are the remains of a 

 coast region carved into fiords like the Magellanic lands. The crests of the hills 

 also are all disposed in the same direction from north-west to south-east. In 

 winter the resemblance is heightened by the snows \^hich cover the uplands and 

 whiten the plains for a few hours. 



But the Falklands, being exposed to fierce gales, lack the arborescent vegeta- 

 tion which clothes the lower slopes of the Fuegian mountains. So violent are 

 the winds that they are said at times to uproot and scatter like straw the very 

 cabbages grown in the kitchen gardens of the settlers. Rains also are frequent, 

 and, like the home country, the archipelago is often shrouded in fogs and mists, 

 especially during the spring and autumn months ; these, however, usually lift 

 towards noon. 



On the other hand the climate, being essentially oceanic, offers no great 

 discrepancies between the extremes of heat and cold, and except for the bluster- 

 ing winds, it presents no features to which colonists from Great Britain are not 

 accustomed. The climate of Port Stanley is even damper than that of London.*' 



Next to the sweet grass known by the name of tussock [dactylis cespitosa), 

 on which the flocks fatten, the most prevalent vegetation are the mosses and 

 lichens. A great part of the surface, even on the slopes of the hills, is carpeted 

 with a turf indicating the presence of bogs, where it is difiicult to lay down a 

 single track. The quadrupeds are represented only by a few foxes ; but aquatic 

 fowl whirl in multitudes over the islands, the bays, and inland lagoons, and of 

 these several species are easily tamed: Penguins are drawn up in battalions on 

 the overhanging ledges in such numbers that the governor of the islands is nick- 

 named " King of the Penguins." Hundreds of thousands are annually killed for 

 the sake of their oil. The fishers also caT)ture some species of salmon and other 

 fishes, and till recently pursued the whale, VA'hich has now become rare in these 

 waters. 



The animals introduced into the archipelago by Bougainville have multiplied. 

 But by a remarkable contrast, which attests the influence of the environment on 

 the gradual modification of species, the horses have become smaller and smaller 

 with every successive generation, while the cattle have, on the contrary, increased 

 in size.f 



Nevertheless, stock-breeders reject the oxen and direct their attention almost 

 exclusively to sheep-farming. In 1852 a syndicate of Uruguayan proprietors 



* Meteorological conditions of the Falklands and South Georgia : — 



Temperature. 

 Liatituae. ^ — — ^-^^__^__ 



mux. 

 I'ort Stanley (Falklands) 

 Royal Bay (S. Georgia) . 



t Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle. 



