KERGUELEN.— HEAED. 63 



Indian Ocean. The lyeUia, another flowering plant, resembles an Andean growth, 

 and three species also supposed to be indigenous in Kerguelen are so like their 

 congeners in Tierra del Fuego, that botanists are inclined to regard them as simple 

 varieties ; lastly, one of the local growths is of Australian origin. But on the 

 whole, the Kerguelen flora is most akin to the Fuegian, a fact doubtless due to the 

 marine currents setting steadily eastwards. 



The only bird peculiar to Kerguelen and the Marion and Crozet groups is the 

 chionis miiior, about the size of a pigeon, and not unlike an allied species common 

 to the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego. There are no land mammals, 

 reptiles, or batrachians, and the fur-bearing seals and other cetaceans still swarm- 

 ing in the Kerguelen waters at the beginning of the century have already become 

 rare. In 1843 over five hundred whalers found occupation in these seas, but in 

 1874 not more than five or six were employed in the capture of whales. The 

 otters are also threatened with extermination, and have already become so scarce 

 that they are no longer regularly hunted. But a number of vessels are still 

 engaged in the capture of the huge sea-lions, one of whom yields as much as a 

 ton of oil. These and other seals still find some shelter from their human enemies 

 in the bays along the west coast, whither the fury of the elements prevents the 

 fishers from following them. Some of these fishers, who had collected a vast 

 quantity of oil on the south-west point of Kerguelen, had to wait for years before 

 a single ship ventured through the breakers to take in a cargo, and growing 

 impatient they at last set fire to their whole stock, whence the name of Bonfire 

 Beach given to this part of the coast. 



The most frequented haven is Christmas Harbour, at the north-west extremity of 

 the island, the position of which is indicated at a distance by a basalt rock 

 assuming the appearance of an imposing triumphal arch. 



MacDoxald and Heard Islands. 



MacDonald, lying to the south-east of Kerguelen, is a mere rock fringed by 

 breakers and inaccessible to fishers. But Heard is visited both by whalers and 

 seal-hunters. Except at the black lava headlands, this island is entirely covered 

 by a white mantle, two vast snow-fields concealing the hills round about Big Ben, 

 the chief summit, which is said to be loftier than Mount Ross in Kerguelen. But 

 although supposed to be over 6,000 feet high it was completely invisible at the 

 time of the Challenger expedition, all the heights above 1,000 feet being wrapped 

 in dense fog. The climate of Heard is even more inclement and stormy than that 

 of Kerguelen. The fierce south-east polar winds prevail very generally in these 

 southern latitudes, and are much dreaded by mariners. 



