270 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



June, 1834. 



answering to our December^ January, and February, which 

 three months appear to be the coldest, and the mean of these 

 is 33° .08.* Dubhn is nearly in the same latitude in the 

 northern hemisphere as Port Famine is in the southern, and 

 we will take its temperature as a means of comparison. 



Dublinf . . . 

 Port Famine 



Latitudes. 



53021' N. 

 53 38' S. 



Summer 

 Temperature 



590 .54 

 50 



Winter 

 Temperature 



39° .2 

 33 .08 



Difference. 



20° .34 

 16 .92 



Mean of 

 Summer and 

 Winter. 

 49o .37 

 41 .54 



Difference 



0 17' 



9 .54 



6 .12 



3 .42 



7 .83 



It will be seen by this that the temperature at Port Famine 

 is very considerably lower, both during summer and winter, 

 than at Dublin, and that at the former the difference between 

 the seasons is not so great, or that the climate is there more 

 equable, It seems the general opinion of those who have 

 visited this country, that the frosts are not so severe or 

 so long as in England. The sealers say that throughout 

 the year theyt wear the same quantity of clothing. Never- 

 theless Captain King states, that during the winter of 1828 

 the temperature was once as low as J 12°. 6. I have drawn 

 up these rough and approximate statements merely for the 

 sake of illustrating some of the following remarks. 



* This mean must be a little too low, because the whole of August is 

 not included. I see Von Buch says, " we can hardly assign to Salten- 

 fiord, Norway (in lat. 67°, or 13° 22' nearer the pole than Port Famine) a 

 higher mean temperature than 34°, nor a higher temperature for the warm 

 month of July than 57°. 8." (Travels through Norway, p. 123.) Captain 

 King gives as the mean for February, which probably is the hottest month 

 at Port Famine, only at 51°.l. Some observations made at the Falkland 

 Islands (2° 13' north of Port Famine) which are often quoted, give as 

 the mean for the v/hole year 47°. 3, and for the summer 53°. 1. These 

 results are very much higher than what I should have anticipated, from 

 the climate of the neighbouring mainland. 



f This line is taken from Barton's Lectures on the Geography of 

 Plants, 



1^ In this wretched climate, subject to such extreme cold, is it not most 

 wonderful, that human beings should be able to exist unclothed and 

 without shelter ? 



