256 



BRUSHWOOD PEAT »' Gil ASS. 



kinds, a sort of quail (like that of Tierra del Fuego), carrion- 

 hawks or vultures, albatrosses, gulls, petrel, penguins, sea- 

 hens, shags, rooks, curlew, sandpipers, rock-hoppers, and a 

 very few land-birds, are found about most of the islands. * 



Although there are no trees, a useful kind of brushwood 

 grows abundantly in vallies, to the height of three or four feet, 

 and thickly set together. Over level plains it is but thinly 

 scattered. The settlers use this brushwood for lighting their 

 peat-fires. There are three kinds of bushes : one grows straight, 

 from two to live feet high, with a stem from half an inch to 

 an inch and half in diameter : this kind is found abundantly 

 in most of the vallies. Another is common about the southern 

 parts of the islands, and has a crooked trunk, as thick as a man's 

 arm, growing to about three feet in height. The third is 

 smaller still, being little better than heather ; it grows almost 

 every where, though scantily. 



Peat is inexhaustible ; and, if properly managed, answers 

 every common purpose of fuel, not only as a substitute, but 

 pleasantly .-t" It will not, however, in its natural state, answer 

 for a forge ; but if dried and subjected to heavy pressure for 

 some time before use, a much greater heat might be derived 

 from it. 



There is but little difference in the quality of the grass, 

 either on high or low land ; but in sheltered valleys it is longer, 

 softer, and greener, than elsewhere. The whole face of the 

 country is covered with it ; and in some places, especially over 

 a peaty soil, its growth becomes hard and rank. In the 



* ' Birds' eggs are so numerous at the proper season, that " eight men 

 gathered at one place alone, in four or five days, upwards of sixty thou- 

 sand eggs, and might have collected twice that number had they re- 

 mained a few days longer." — Vernet, MS. 1831. 



t " The want of wood on these islands would be a great inconvenience, 

 were it not that good peat is very abundant. I have burned many tons, and 

 found it an excellent substitute for coal. In order to get it dry, it is 

 necessary to pull it from the sides of the pit, not very deep ; and as there 

 are several peat-holes, by working them alternately, the material may be 

 procured in a state fit for use."—- Weddell's Voyage, p. 88. 



