June, 1834. 



ANTARCTIC ISLANDS. 



273 



the pole, is thus described by Captain Cook (February 1st, 

 hottest time in the year, and in same latitude as north of 

 Scotland) : Every part was blocked or filled up with 

 ice, and the whole country, from the summits of the moun- 

 tains down to the very brink of the cliffs which terminate the 

 coast, covered many fathoms thick with everlasting snow. 

 The cliffs alone were all which was to be seen like land.^^ 

 Again he adds, talking of two islets, These only were clear 

 of snow, and seemed covered with a green turf.^^ In Georgia, 

 lat. 54° to 55°, the bays are terminated by ice cliffs of consi- 

 derable height, and, according to Cook, the country in the 

 very height of summer, is in a manner wholly covered many 

 fathoms deep with frozen snow, but more especially on the 

 south-west coast." The only vegetable is a strong-bladed 

 grass growing in tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss." 

 Although 96 miles long and about ten broad, it possesses not 

 a single quadruped, and only one land bird, namely a small 

 titlark (an An thus), a specimen of which T procured in the 

 Falklands. This bird, if undescribed, certainly well deserves 

 the name of antarcticus, for although not living within that 

 circle, it inhabits a more inhospitable region than any other 

 terrestrial animal. Anderson, in Cook^s Voyage, says, even 

 in Kerguelen Land (an island 120 miles long by 60 broad, 

 and situated in lat. 50°, corresponding to the extreme 

 southern point of England), " The whole catalogue of plants 

 does not exceed sixteen or seventeen, including some sorts 

 of moss, and a beautiful species of lichen which grows 

 upon the rocks higher up than the rest of the vegetable pro- 

 ductions. Nor is there even the least appearance of a shrub 

 in the whole country." It is doubtful whether there is a 

 single land bird ; and then he adds, " The hills are of a 

 moderate height ; yet many of their tops were covered with 

 snow* at this time, though answering to our June." These 

 statements forcibly prove the intemperance of the chmate 

 even far without the frozen limits of the antarctic circle. 



* I have reason to believe, that icebergs are formed on the coast during 

 a part of the year. 



VOL. III. T 



