27.2 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. June^ 1834. 



med trees of Fuchsia and Veronica, in England considered 

 and treated as tender plants, in full flower, within a very 

 short distance of the base of a mountain covered for two- 

 thirds down with snow, and with the temperature at 36°/^ 

 He states, also, that humming-birds were seen sipping the 

 sweets of the flowers, " after two or three days of constant 

 rain, snow, and sleet, during which time the thermometer 

 had been at the freezing point/^ I myself have seen parrots 

 feeding on the seeds of the winter's bark, south of lati- 

 tude 55°. 



Although the limit of an almost tropical vegetation extends 

 thus far southward, yet the dearth of living things, both vege- 

 table and animal, on the islands situated even far without 

 the antarctic circle, is surprising, compared with the corre- 

 sponding parallels in the northern hemisphere. In South 

 Shetland in lat. 62° to 63° (same as Ferroe, or southern part 

 of Norway) Weddell* states, ^'^ None of the islands afford any 

 vegetation save a short straggling grass, which is found in 

 very small patches in places where there happens to be a 

 little soil. This, together with a moss similar to that which 

 is found in Iceland, appears in the middle of January, at 

 which time the islands are partially clear of snow.^^ In 

 Deception Island, one of the same group. Lieutenant Ken- 

 dall, says,t There was nothing in the shape of vegetation 

 except a small kind of lichen." The island itself is partly 

 composed of ice and volcanic ashes interstratified. Another 

 curious proof of the rigour of the climate is mentioned: 



Having observed a mound on the hill immediately above 

 this cove, I opened it, and found a rude coflin, the rotten 

 state of which bespoke its having been long consigned to the 

 earth ; but the body had undergone scarcely any decomposi- 

 tion. The legs were doubled up, and it was dressed in the 

 jacket and cap of a sailor, but neither they nor the counte- 

 nance were similar to those of an Englishman." 



Sandwich Land, which is nearly three degrees further from 



* Weddell's Voyage, p. 133. 



f Geographical Journal, 1830, pp. G5 and 6G. 



V 



