1833. MOUNTAIN TOPS — BONES. 277 



since occurred to me, that the phosphoric light spoken of by 

 Bougainville in the following passage may be of a nature simi- 

 lar to that which T saw, and that those momentary flashes 

 might have been caused by the occasional fall of stones among 

 ravines, near the summits of hills. "Des voyages entrepris 

 jusqu"* au sommet des montagnes (pour chercher des calcaires), 

 n'en (de pierre) ont fait voir que d''une nature de quartz et de 

 gres non friable, produisant des etincelles, et meme une 

 lumiere phosphorique, accompagnee d'une odeur sulphureuse.'" 

 — (Bougainville, Voyage autour du Monde, 1766-69, tome I., 

 p. 100). 



The shattered state of most summits of mountains in these 

 regions* has often struck me, many of them being mere heaps 

 of rocks and stones, over which it is extremely difficult to 

 climb. Mount Skyring may be cited as one remarkable 

 instance ; there, the stones gave out a very sulphureous smell 

 when struck together, and were strongly magnetic.-f' Light- 

 ning, electricity, and magnetism being intimately related, one 

 is led to think that, if the above conjecture is incorrect, there 

 may be some connexion between these sudden glimpses of faint 

 light and the transmission of the electric fluid. This much I 

 am certain of, that they were not lights made by man, and 

 that they were difl*erent from the wilW- the- wisp, or ignis fatuus. 



My own employment obliged me to remain near the ship, 

 but some of the officers made excursions into the interior, and 

 to them and Mr. Brisbane I am indebted for most of the fol- 

 lowing notices of these islands. 



Some very large bones were seen a long way from the sea- 

 shore, and some hundred feet above the level of high water, 

 near St. Salvador Bay. How they got there had often puz- 

 zled Mr. Vernet, and Brisbane also, who had examined them 

 with attention ; Brisbane told me they were whale's bones.J 

 The rocky summits of all the hills are amazingly broken up, 



* Falklands and Tierra del Fuego. f Vol.1., p. 382. 



X Bougainville says, " D'autres ossemens enormes, places bien avant 

 dans les terres, etque la fureur des flots n'a jamais ete capable de porter 

 si loin, prouvent que la mer a baisse, ou que les terres se sont elevees." — 

 Vol.!., pp. 112-113. 



