loftiest mountain of the island, is two thousand one hundred and fifty-six feet above the level of the sea.

The geological structure of the island is greenstone and hornblende rock, mixed with granite and quartz. There is no stratification; nor did I observe any indication of metals. The soil is of the nature of clay; it is wet and boggy, producing extensive beds of peat. On the hills are several lakes of water, the rocky basins which form them being generally filled to their brim.

The vegetation of Hermite Island is of limited extent, the plants being much the same as those of Staten Island. The beech-tree is generally smaller, and appeared to be much stinted in its growth by the violence and constancy of the winds to which it is exposed. It is very crooked and knotty, and fit only for fuel. The antarctic or evergreen beech is mingled with the deciduous species of this tree. It was very scarce at Staten Island; but here it grows in abundance, and by the change of colour in its fading leaves, which are plentifully sprinkled in groups among the dense green foliage by which it is surrounded, it produces a pleasing contrast,

SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.

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and adds variety and an autumnal appearance to the whole. The smaller shrubs, lichens, and plants were precisely the same as those we found at Staten Island.

Parties were generally employed every day, when the weather permitted, in taking fish with lines, but not with any great success: we were more fortunate in catching them in the sea-weed. These however were small, and it would require the occupation of one person for a whole day to catch sufficient for a meal for a few persons. But in consequence of the time that the service on which we were employed would require before we could return to any port for supplies of provisions, it had been considered necessary by Captain Foster to reduce the usual allowance of provisions, and we were now enduring that privation. A few fish therefore, even sufficient for a meal now and then, were most acceptable to us.

Birds are scarce on Hermite Island, and the supply of meat, such as it was, which we used to obtain at Deception from penguins, was not to be had here; they were not to be found on this island. We saw no animals, and of shells we only found two or three species, so that the

188

DAMPNESS OF THE ISLAND.

natural productions of Hermite Island are even less than those of Staten Island; but the boisterous climate in which it lies, and its peculiar situation at the very extremity of the southern point of South America, exposed to the rudest violence of the wind, render it an abode not likely to be sought by any part of the creation that delights in quietness and fine weather. Here everything is dripping with rain, and bending under the violence of the wind, the effects of which a few short intervals of calm are not sufficient to compensate.

CHAPTER IX.

Climate of Cape Horn.-Similar parallels and dissimilar temperatures.-Erroneous notions of temperature.-Humming birds in snow showers.-Equality of the Summer and Winter.

THE climate of Cape Horn, the same as that of Hermite Island, is one entirely peculiar to itself, and not generally understood. Persons naturally look to corresponding parallels of latitude in the northern hemisphere for similar effects in climate; but nothing can be more erroneous; and a consideration of the different portions of land and sea generally in parts of the two hemispheres under the same parallels, will at once account for the great difference which actually is found to exist. We remained nine weeks in St. Martin's Cove, and found the weather boisterous and extremely wet, the wind being almost constantly from the westward, veering from north to south by the west. The following statement is the result of the observa

tions made during our stay, on board the Chan

ticleer and at the observatory on shore:

The Report of the Commissioners of the Academy of Sciences at Paris in 1825, on the voyage of M. Duperry, says: "Since the celebrated voyages of Cook, no one doubts that the southern hemisphere is decidedly colder than the northern. At what distance from the equator therefore does this difference commence, and by what law does it increase as the latitude increases?" Dr. Foster also, in his celebrated and