206 Geographical Collections. 
tables. The ground is wet and swampy, and covered with lichens, mosses, and 
peat. Seeds have been forwarded of the Fuegean rush, (Juncus grandiflorus, ) 
of which most admirable baskets are made, table mats, chair bottoms, &c. ; it 
will grow on moist, boggy soils, where nothing else will thrive. The seeds of a 
barberry, intermediate in quality between a grape and a gooseberry; seeds of a 
large and luxuriant celery ; a freschsia of great merit, being a shrub of good 
size, bearing clusters of pendant flowers of the greatest beauty ; an embothrium, 
an auricula of great promise, and a chelone of most vivid hue, are among the 
handsome and ornamental plants. The berries of the Hamadryas magellanica, 
furnish a colour between turmeric and arnotta, and there is a curious wood which 
forms an admirable paint, green as verdigris. The sea weeds of these regions are 
gigantic and magnificent. <A similar structure to what is. observed in the seals 
of the north, was met with in dissecting a seal of South Shetland: the vein which 
receives the blood during the immersion of the animal, was found to be seven- 
teen inches in diameter. 
The Chanticleer sailed from Port Cook on the 2ist of December, with a view 
to secure the advantages of the summer at South Shetland. On the 2d January, 
they fell in with the first iceberg, lat. 60°, and as they advanced they became 
more numerous ; at one time eighty-three were in sight from deck. 
The Chanticleer stood a little to the southward of the Shetland group, and 
came upon an extensive tract of land, with a range of lofty mountains, covered 
down to the water’s edge with ice and snow. Being near shore, Captain Forster 
landed and took possession of the country in the name of King George IV. de- 
positing a copper cylinder containing a notice to that effect. The place was call- 
ed Cape Possession, and the land was named at the same time Clarence Land, 
in honour of his royal highness. Cape Possession is, according to. one report 
that we have seen, in lat. 64° S. and according to another, 63° 45’ S. and long. 
60° W. In the chart prefixed to Captain Weddell’s voyage, we find ‘‘ Trinity 
Land,”’ as a part of South Shetland, laid down as stretching to the south, be- 
tween lat. 64° and 65°. The rock is called agenite, probably granite. ‘They 
were surrounded by numerous icebergs of immense size, from 300 to 460 feet in 
height, and upwards of 1000 feet in length. Some red snow was collected, simi- 
lar to that of the Arctic regions. - 
On the 19th January, the Chanticleer put into the harbour of Deception Is- 
land. It is of volcanic origin, consisting of hills of black ashes and cinders, red 
tufa, and superincumbent masses of ice and snow, of prodigious magnitude. The 
shores reek with steam, while enormous icebergs stand upon their brink, and the 
summits of the snow-clad hills smoke with vapour. The only living things on 
it were penguins, and their numbers exceeded computation. Some thousands of 
them were slaughtered, and several hundreds of them salted and packed for sea- 
store. Some sea-leopards were obtained: they yielded a considerable quantity of 
oil. Deception Island offers no trace of vegetation. 
On the 8th of March the Chanticleer quitted this remarkable place, and pro- 
ceeded to Cape Horn, to prosecute the experiments, and obtain the necessary ob- 
ervations. It approximates in climate, character, and productions, to Staten 
island. The climate of the southern regions has been somewhat misrepresented, 
and its rigour and severity too highly coloured : its vegetation is as luxuriant and 
vigorous as the corresponding latitude of the northern hemisphere. 
Having achieved the object of her voyage to the southern regions, the Chan- 
ticleer left Cape Horn on the 24th May, and after a prosperous run of twenty- 
seven days made the Table Land; but, by the prevalence of adverse winds, put 
into Mussel Bay, for the purpose of getting time to recruit their health, and en- 
joy the luxuries of fruit, vegetables, and fresh meat, to which they had been 
Strangers fur nine months. 
