Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

62 AUSTRALASIA.Formerly the island enjoj^ed a very different and much milder climate, for inthe valle}'s the argillaceous schists here and there overlie fossil wood at everj'stage of transformation, in one place almost still fresh, in another half petrified,or even changed to pure silica. In the cavities of the basalt rocks are alsofound layers of coal varying from a few inches to over a yard in thickness, andoverlying more recent eruptive rocks. So numerous are these deposits that it hasbeen proposed to convert Kergueleu into a coaling station on the ocean highwaybetween England and Australia. Were the project realised, this now uselessFrench possession might acquire a certain commercial value. There can be nodoubt that cattle might also be reared on the island, where the sheep landed bythe expedition under Captain Ross throve well. Sheep-farming has succeededexcellently on the Falkland Islands, which have the same climate as Kerguelen,and an analogous fauna and flora.The present climate of Kerguelen is very equable, varying little from winterto summer. According to Studer, the difference of temperature throughout theyear is only 18° F., ranging from 32° in winter to 50° in summer, with a mean of39° or 40°. But there is an excess of moisture, and high gales are alwaj-s blowingeither from the north or west, and are often accompanied by hail, snow, or rain,though at times also by clear, bright skies. Sometimes these gales are displacedby north-easterly winds bearing copious rains, fogs, and a higher temperaturebut the normal direction of the atmospheric currents is from the north-west. Tothese incessant storms the naturalist, Studer, attributes the fact that the localinsects, esiDecially the flies and butterflies, are destitute of wings, which could leadonly to their destruction, by exposing them to the risk of being blown seawardswith no hope of return. Even the strong-winged albatross never builds on thenorth-west side of the island, which bears the brunt of the tempest and iswrapjDed in eternal fogs. His home is on the shores facing the clear blue skies.The Kerguelen flora is extremely poor, resembling that rather of an antarcticland than of an island situated in the temperate zone and corresponding in latitudeto the valley of the Somme in the northern hemisphere. Hooker, who spent awinter on the island, failed to discover more than eighteen flowering plants, towhich further researches have only added three, making twent3'-one altogetherin a total of about a hundred and fifty species. Nearly two-thirds of the vegetationconsists in fact of algas and mosses, and even of the phanerogams about one-thirdare monocotyledons, a proportion occurring nowhere else in the whole world.After traversing the zone of large algse {macrocystis pyriferd), some of whose ropelikestalks are 200 feet long, the observer comes upon a narrow zone of grass,followed by j)lants of the saxifrage type, mosses, and a few graminaceae sproutingin the cavities of the rocks. On the slopes of the hills azoreUa sekiyo develojasextensive beds saturated with water, where the exj)lorer sinks to his knees atevery step. The onl}^ plant producing anj' effect on the landscape is a giganticspecies of cabbage, whose botanical name {pringJea antiscorhutica) sufiicientlyindicates its value to seafarers condemned to long periods of a coarse salt meatdiet. This species is peculiar to Kerguelen, being found nowhere else in the