2Ö 
J. G. ANDERSSON, 
(Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 
It cannot be doubted that not only the bottom of the valley but also almost 
all the slopes are occupied by continuous block-accumulations originating from the 
quartzite-outcrops which form the crests of the mountains. But in the valley-bottom 
all finer material is washed away, leaving the large blocks bare, except in some 
narrow dark coloured strips where the soil is left covered by a vegetation consisting 
mostly of Empetruvi rubrum. An indication of this washing-process is given by 
the numerous rivulets which are heard, especially in the bottom of the valley, 
purling deep underneath the huge blocks. 
The grassy patches and narrow Empetrum-covtx&å strips are spots where the 
mass is left unaltered, with some finer material between the blocks. As the direc- 
tions of the washing water-courses must have been due to the primary conditions 
of the waste-sheet, we may be right in supposing that the grass-bands and Empetrum- 
strips indicate the directions in which the waste once moved downhill. With this 
premise I have been able to draw on the map the arrows, which are intended to 
exhibit the lines of waste-movement in different parts of the valley. A comparison 
between these arrows and the isohypses proves that the waste has moved not 
much lengthways in the valley but down the valley-side following the direction of the 
steepest slope, which varies in different parts of the stone-river between i : 4 
and I : 27. 
It is quite evident that the Darwin-stoneriver — and most probably all other 
large stone-runs of the Falkland Islands — was formed in a bygone period when the 
climatic conditions were more favourable for waste-flow than is the case at the pre- 
sent time. Now the block-fields remain fixed, but have, since they stopped to move, 
got somewhat altered by washing away of the finer material in some parts, by 
growing over by vegetation in ethers. 
The present conditions of Bear Island, where solifluction works on a very large 
scale, indicate that most probably the large Falkland stone-rivers were formed 
during a time when the climate was somewhat more severe than it is to-day; then 
the vegetation did not form a continuous plant-cover, but only poor and scattered 
patches that offered little resistance to the solifluction. Much snow was probably 
deposited in winter-time, but as it was melted away during the summer, no gla- 
ciers could be produced, but only a powerful and extensive soil-flow. 
It seems very inviting to refer the formation of the stone-rivers to the time 
of the maximum glaciation in Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia and Graham Land. 
No moraines, no glacial striæ on the rocks, in brief, no signs of glacial action are 
noticed in the Falkland Islands. Some orographic features which are common in 
these islands seem to be incompatible with the effect of an ice-cover: in the folded 
region of East Falkland the quartzite ridges are often very sharp and narrow (see 
PI. 4), and in West Falkland round Port Stephens and Port Albemarle there are 
