62 AUSTRALASIA. 



Formerly the island enjoyed a very different and much milder climate, for in 

 the valleys the arg-illaceous schists here and there overlie fossil wood at ever}'' 

 stage of transformation, in one place almost still fresh, in another half petrified, 

 or even changed to pure silica. In the cavities of the basalt rocks are also 

 found layers of coal varying from a few inches to over a yard in thickness, and 

 overlying more recent eruptive rocks. So numerous are these deposits that it has 

 been proposed to convert Kerguelen into a coaling station on the ocean highway 

 between England and Australia. Were the project realised, this now useless 

 French possession might acquire a certain commercial value. There can be no 

 doubt that cattle might also be reared on the island, M^here the sheep landed by 

 the expedition under Captain Ross throve well. Sheep-farming has succeeded 

 excellently on the Falkland Islands, which have the same climate as Kerguelen, 

 and an analogous fauna and flora. 



The present climate of Kerguelen is very equable, varying little from winter 

 to summer. According to Studer, the difference of temperature throughout the 

 year is only 18° F., ranging from 32° in winter to 50° in summer, with a mean of 

 39° or 40°. But there is an excess of moisture, and high gales are always blowing- 

 either from the north or west, and are often accompanied by hail, snow, or rain, 

 though at times also by clear, bright skies. Sometimes these gales are displaced 

 by north-easterly winds bearing copious rains, fogs, and a higher temperature ; 

 but the normal direction of the atmospheric currents is from the north-west. To 

 these incessant storms the naturalist, Studer, attributes the fact that the local 

 insects, especially the flies and butterflies, are destitute of wings, which could lead 

 only to their destruction, by exposing them to the risk of being blown seawards 

 with no hope of return. Even the strong-winged albatross never builds on the 

 north-west side of the island, which bears the brunt of the tempest and is 

 wrapped in eternal fogs. His home is on the shores facing the clear blue skies. 



The Kerguelen flora is extremely poor, resembling that rather of an antarctic 

 land than of an island situated in the temperate zone and corresponding in latitude 

 to the valley of the Somme in the northern hemisphere. Hooker, who spent a 

 winter on the island, failed to discover more than eighteen flowering plants, to 

 which further researches have only added three, making twenty-one altogether 

 in a total of about a hundred and fifty species. Nearly two-thirds of the vegetation 

 consists in fact of algae and mosses, and even of the phanerogams about one-third 

 are monocotyledons, a proportion occurring nowhere else in the whole world. 

 After traversing the zone of large algae {macrocystis jryrifera), some of whose rope- 

 like stalks are 200 feet long, the observer comes upon a narrow zone of grass, 

 followed by plants of the saxifrage type, mosses, and a few graminaceae sprouting 

 in the cavities of the rocks. On the slopes of the hills azoreUa selago develops 

 extensive beds saturated with water, where the explorer sinks to his knees at 

 every step. The only plant producing any effect on the landscape is a gigantic 

 species of cabbage, whose botanical name {pringlea ant i scorbutica) sufficiently 

 indicates its value to seafarers condemned to long periods of a coarse salt meat 

 diet This species is peculiar to Kerguelen, being found nowhere else in the 



