18 O/i the Tiissac Gra^s in the Falkltuid Inlands. 
hunting expeditions dreadfully out of condition, soon pick up, and 
become quite fat upon the tussac which grows there. 
The two Americans who wandered upon West Falkland for 14 
months lived upon the root daily, and formed their huts of what I 
have termed the cushion, rolling one to the small doorway or 
opening when night came on. 
The long blades of the grass make but an indifferent thatch, as 
it is much too brittle to last when dry : there are no fibres suffi- 
ciently tough or coarse for this purpose. I may notice that cattle 
and horses will readily eat dry tussac when they cannot procure it 
fresh ; but an ample supply of it can always be obtained, as it is 
green and luxuriant all the year round. 
The bounty of Providence causes this extremely nutritious grass 
to grow most luxuriantly in the rank peat-bogs by the sea-shore, 
where any other, even of the most inferior quality, could scarcely 
live. 1 may say that by far the greater part of the coasts of these 
islands are fringed with it in many places to the breadth of half a 
mile : all the smaller islands are completely covered with it. It 
grows readily between clefts in the rocks, out of shingle and 
sand, close down to high-water mark ; but it is most luxuriant 
where there is a depth of wet peaty bog. Whether it will grow 
upon b{>ggy land further than half a mile from the sea, can only 
be determined by experiment. At the proper time 1 shall try it, 
and 1 entertain the most sanguine hopes that it will succeed, 
though perhaps it may not grow so luxuriantly as by the sea- 
shore. 
If it should succeed upon inland bogs, such land could be made 
to yield as much nutriment for cattle as any other. 
I am informed that a similar species of sedgy grass is to be 
found in the Straits of Magellan, the Auckland Islands, and 
many other places in the southern hemisphere ; but, unlike its 
northern relations, the southern Carex appears everywhere to be 
tender, full of nutriment, and the favourite food with all cattle. 
Extract from a late?- Report, dated October 1, 1842. 
In my last Report I noticed the extraordinary dryness of the 
atmosphere, produced chiefly by the constant winds of summer. 
During the past winter months of June, July, and August, the 
excess of dampness and moisture has been equally remarkable, 
unaccompanied, however, by rain, and, comparatively with Eng- 
land, there was but little snow. The ice has been sufficiently 
thick to bear the weight of a man twice, for two or three days to- 
gether ; and the thermometer has occasionally been as low as 
25°, and once 18° during the night. The wind has been by no 
means so strong or frequent as in summer; and calm days, with 
