136 
THE PLANTS 0E THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 
spring of the southern latitudes, the Erebus 
and Terror, with a portion of the officers, 
sailed from Berkeley Sound (Falkland Island) 
for the neighbourhood of Cape Horn, and 
arrived there, after having been driven far out 
of their course by the equinoctial gales, on the 
21st, casting anchor in St. Martin's Cove, 
Hermit's Island, lat. 56°, within a few miles of 
the far-famed Cape Horn, which is imme- 
diately opposite the mouth of the Cove. This 
is the most southerly spot on the globe, which 
possesses anything above a herbaceous vege- 
tation ; here in the sheltered bays the two 
kinds of Antarctic Beech, the evergreen and de- 
ciduous, constitute a dense though small forest, 
and ascend in a stunted form to an elevation of 
1000 feet on the hills. Many of the plants 
gathered during Cook's first voyage, by Sir 
Joseph Banks and Solander, and by Forster 
during his second, as also those which Mr. 
Menzies had detected, when accompanying 
Vancouver's expedition, and which have not 
been hitherto published, were found again ; 
and when the ship returned in November, 
Captain Ross transported many hundreds of 
young beech-trees, and caused them to be 
planted there, in hopes that the productions of 
so near a country might be found to succeed on 
these treeless islands.'' Seeds were also sent 
to the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, from 
which plants have been raised and distributed. 
On Cockburn's Island, a small volcanic island 
in lat. 64°, the vegetable productions amounted 
only to twenty cryptogamic species, three of 
which were sea-weeds. 
Respecting the climate which prevails in 
the Antarctic circle, we find the following 
remarks : — 
" The vast proportion which water bears to 
land, tends to render the temperature uniform 
throughout the year, and the farther south is 
the position, the more equable does the climate 
seem to be. No analogy can prove more in- 
correct than that which compares the similar 
degrees of latitude in the north with those of 
the south. The most casual inspection of the 
map suffices to show the immense proportion 
of sea to land in the southern hemisphere, the 
mass of the continents terminating to the north 
of lat. 40° S., America alone dwindling away 
to the fifty-sixth degree. The scattered islands 
discovered to the south of this, are therefore 
removed from the influence of any tracts which 
enjoy a better or continental climate. The 
power of the sun is seldom felt, and unless in 
the immediate neighbourhood of land, and ac- 
companied by a comparatively dry land-wind, 
that luminary only draws up such mists and 
fogs as intercept its rays. After entering the 
pack-ice between 55" and 65°, the thermo- 
meter seldom, during any part of the summer 
day, rises above 32° or falls below 20" ; and 
while the southerly winds bring snow, the 
northerly ones transport an atmosphere laden 
with moisture, which, becoming at once con- 
densed, covers the face of the ocean with white 
fogs of the densest description. All islands 
and lands to the southward of 45" partake 
more or less of this inhospitable climate, which, 
though eminently unfavourable to a varied 
growth of plants, still, from its equable nature, 
causes a degree of luxuriance to pervade all 
the vegetable kingdom, such as is never seen 
in climates where the vegetable functions are 
suspended for a large portion of the year. 
The remoteness of these islands from any con- 
tinent, together with their inaccessibility, pre- 
clude the idea of their being tenanted, even in 
a single instance, by plants that have migrated 
from other countries ; and still more distinctly 
do they forbid the possibility of man having 
been an active agent in the dissemination of 
them. On the contrary, the remarkable fact 
that some of the most peculiar productions are 
confined to the narrowest limits, is a strong 
argument in favour of a general distribution 
of vegetable life over separate spots on the 
globe. Hence it will appear, that islands so 
situated furnish the best materials for a rigid 
comparison of the effects of geographical posi- 
tion and the various meteorological phenomena, 
on vegetation, and for acquiring a knowledge 
of the great laws according to which plants 
are distributed over the face of the globe." — • 
Pp. xi. xii. 
The group of islands called Lord Auckland's 
is twenty miles long and eleven in breadth, 
and, as it appears on approaching from the 
sea, presents an almost equal distribution of 
wood, shrubs, and pasture land. Dr. Hooker 
describes it thus : — 
" The mountains are low and undulating, no- 
where exceeding 1400 or 1500 feet, clothed, for 
their greater part, but scarcely to the very sum- 
mits, with long grass, and frequently covered, 
during November and December, though not 
generally, with snow. The climate is rainy 
and very stormy, so that on the windward 
sides the plants are stunted and checked, and 
resemble those of a higher southern latitude, 
or of an elevation several hundred feet above 
that which the same species inhabit on the 
sheltered parts. The whole group of islands 
appears formed of volcanic rocks, mostly of 
black trap, whose decomposition, especially 
among the ranker vegetation of the lower 
grounds, produces a deep rich soil. A Myr- 
taceous tree {Metrosideros umbellata) forms 
the larger proportion of the wood near the 
sea, and intermixed with it grow an arbores- 
cent species of Dracophyllum, several Copros- 
mas, Veronicas (frutescent), and a Panax. 
Under these, and particularly close to the 
