# A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions/Volume 1/Chapter 4

The Arched Rock, Christmas Harbour. Page 63.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Kerguelen Islands were discovered in 1772 by M. Kerguelen, a lieutenant of the French navy. He first observed two small islands on the 13th of January, which he named the "Isles of Fortune," after the ship he commanded, and afterwards came in sight of the main island, but being driven off by tempestuous weather he was unable to approach its shores and returned to the Mauritius.
From the exaggerated account he gave of the extent of this new discovery, it was very generally believed that the great southern continent which the philosophers of that time considered necessary to maintain the balance of our earth was at length found: and M. de Kerguelen, in command of the Rolland of 64 guns, accompanied by L'Oiseau frigate, was sent again to examine more fully this interesting land.
His second expedition was hardly more fortunate than the former. In December, 1773, he again came in sight of the principal island, and gave the name of Cape François to a fine bold promontory, which forms at once the northern headland of one of its best harbours, and the north extreme point of the main island. His ship was driven off the coast by strong westerly gales, and ​was unable to regain it: but on the 6th of January, 1774, M. de Rosnevet, in the frigate L'Oiseau arrived off the harbour, near the head of which one of his officers landed, and "took possession of the bay and of all the country, in the name of the King of France, with all requisite formalities," but it does not appear that any further knowledge of the extent and capabilities of this land was obtained.
Captain Cook was preparing for his third and last voyage, when the news of this discovery reached England, and he was directed in his instructions from the Admiralty to search for it on his way to Van Diemen's Land. Accordingly, on the 24th of December, whilst sailing along the parallel of its latitude, he observed, through the fog, two islands of considerable height, and eight or nine miles in circumference; these he named Cloudy Islands. A remarkable elevated rock which he recognized as that named the Isle of Re-union by M. Kerguelen, was soon afterwards seen, and by him called Bligh's Cap, by which name it is now distinguished. And on Christmas day the Resolution and Discovery anchored in the Baie de L'Oiseau, and although not the discoverers of this extensive island they were the first ships that ever anchored in any of its numerous harbours. Captain Cook named it Christmas Harbour, not knowing at the time that it had been previously named by its French discoverer.
An accurate survey of the harbour and a general ​examination of the eastern coast of the island from Cape François to Cape George, near its southern extremity, resulted from the visit of this great navigator; and the illusion which had taken possession of men's minds of its being a part of the great southern continent was dispelled by a reference to the log-book of the Adventure, in which ship Captain Furneaux, the companion of Cook on his second voyage, crossed the meridian of this land about fifty miles to the southward of Cape George in February, 1773, after separating from the Resolution, thus proving that no part of this land extends to the southward beyond the fiftieth degree of latitude.
In March, 1799, many of its numerous and secure harbours were examined and surveyed by Captain Robert Rhodes, when in command of the Hillsborough, employed in killing sea-elephants, seals, and whales, in the southern hemisphere; and the following extracts relating to some of the more accessible and convenient anchorages for vessels employed in the southern fishery are taken from a manuscript memoir written by him, and will serve to elucidate the chart of these islands, which I have constructed from the best materials I could collect, in addition to the surveys of the several harbours at the northern part of the island that were made by the officers of the Expedition.
Captain Rhodes states, that "after our arrival in the Great South West Bay, I found the season had expired for killing sea elephants and seals, but in ​the course of the same month we perceived the right or black whale to set into the different bays and harbours in great quantities. Our success was commensurate to my most sanguine expectations, and we remained here until October following."
During the time (nearly eight months) they were at Winter Harbour, in lat. 49° 20′ S., and long. 69° 24′ E., he explored not less than fifty inlets or coves in the boats of the Hillsborough, where ships of any tonnage might ride in perfect safety in the most tempestuous seasons. He gave names to these several harbours, and intended to have published a chart of his labours, "as" (he writes) "an unerring guide to future navigators, and to have thus discharged a duty, which is as pleasing to my own feelings as I trust it will be found important to the commercial interests of the British Empire;" but it does not appear that either the chart or the memoir was ever published.
"If bound into Hillsborough Bay, leave the islands off Christmas Harbour on the port hand, and steer S.E. by S. by compass along the land at a distance of about three or four leagues. This course will carry you between the beds of kelp and sea-weed that lie off the coast, and when you have run the distance of seventeen miles from Cape François, Howe's Foreland will bear S.W. by compass, distant seven or eight miles: at the same time a ledge of rocks may be seen from the deck bearing N.E. distant five or six miles. You may then steer South to S. by W. by compass until you have run about fifteen miles, leaving ​several small islands on your port hand; you will then open the Bay in which Port Palliser is situated, which may be known by a small round island off Penguin Cove, which forms the harbour. Leave this island on the port hand, and the course in is W. by N. by compass, where there is good anchorage in from seven to nine fathoms water.
"Between Port Palliser and Howe's Foreland is an extensive bay, with two branches that run in W.S.W. and W.N.W. at a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles. This bay is separated from Whale Bay by a narrow isthmus not exceeding three quarters of a mile in breadth, where a boat may be occasionally hauled across, and this will save a distance of upwards of fifty miles if going into Hillsborough Bay." There are also several good harbours in this bay, which I have called Rhode Bay in compliment to this diligent investigator.
"From Port Palliser to Cape Henry, the north head of Hillsborough Bay, the course is S. by W. and the distance twelve or thirteen miles. On leaving Port Palliser steer E.S.E. until you are beyond all the beds of kelp, and then the above course will carry you clear of all dangers until you arrive off Cape Henry. This Cape is on an island, and forms a high bluff headland, and there are several smaller islands and rocks both north and south of the Cape. Between Port Palliser and Cape Henry there are seven different bays of considerable extent with coves that form good harbours, all tending in from West to W.N.W.
​"From Howe's Foreland or any of the projecting points or headlands that form the several bays and inlets between it and Cape Henry, Mount Campbell may be seen, as also the low land of Cape Digby. The mountain has a round top, is of a moderate elevation, and may be seen, in clear weather, at fifteen or sixteen leagues' distance. In running down the coast Mount Campbell will be discovered some time before you raise the low land of the Cape, which forms its termination at a mile and a half from it; it is distant from any other mountain seven or eight miles, and bears from Howe's Foreland S. E. by compass. Mount Campbell and Cape Digby are the best guides into Hillsborough Bay.
"When arrived off Cape Henry, you will open Whale Bay, so named from the great numbers of whales that frequent the place at a certain season of the year. In the mouth of this bay is a small reef, which always shows itself, and lies about six miles S. by W. from Cape Henry. You may go on either side of the reef; but if intending to enter Hillsborough Bay steer for the group of islands which lies to the S.S.W. of the reef, and about three miles from it. You may anchor within those islands, in any depth from twenty to seven fathoms, on good holding ground. There are here several inlets and coves, which afford good harbours. Keep those islands on the starboard hand, and you will soon shut in Mount Campbell, and Seal Island will be on with Cape Daniel and the south head of Hillsborough Bay: then steer S.W. until you raise ​a small reef which lies in the middle of the bay, near the entrance of Hunter's Sound. Here you will have from thirty-six to forty-two fathoms on a soft muddy bottom.
"Leave this reef on the port hand, and steer W. by N. by compass; this course will carry you to Winter Harbour, which is distant from the group of islands fourteen miles. You will here find a safe and good harbour, where you may anchor in from seven to nine fathoms."
"When the western extreme of the islands bears north by compass, you will then be shut in and entirely land-locked; here you will have from fifteen to twenty-five fathoms on a soft muddy bottom; but when you advance four or five miles further up the sound, you will find from seventy to one hundred fathoms near the Raven and Duck islands.
"Whale Bay, to the northward of Hunter Sound, affords several good harbours.
"Irish Bay lies to the southward of Winter Harbour, and likewise affords some very good harbours.
"Foundery Branch, so named from the great quantity of iron ore and limestone found there, contains many inlets and coves, in which ships may anchor protected from all winds and weather. This branch lies S.E., about thirteen miles from Winter Harbour.
"Elizabeth Harbour bears E. by S. from Winter Harbour; there is good anchorage in it, in from four to nine fathoms water. There is a reef in the mouth of it, which you may pass on either side in ​perfect safety, and will not find less than nine or ten fathoms until well within the reef.
"Betsy Cove, which lies in the head of Accessible Bay, is an excellent harbour, and has from five to seven fathoms water over a tough blue clay. It is the southernmost harbour in the coast north of Cape Digby, and is about eight miles from it.
"In passing Cape Digby, it will be necessary to give it a birth of three miles, to clear the spit of land that runs out from it to nearly that distance."
Christmas Harbour, situated at the northern extremity of the island, has an entrance of nearly a mile wide, between Cape François on the north and the "Arched" Point on the south, on which side is a small bay that somewhat increases the breadth for nearly half the depth of the inlet, when it suddenly contracts to less than one-third of a mile, and thence gradually diminishes to the head of the bay, which terminates in a level beach of fine dark sand, extending quite across, and of about four hundred yards in length.
The shores on each side are steep, and rise in a succession of terraces to the height of more than a thousand feet. The highest hill, which is on the north side of the harbour, attains an elevation of thirteen hundred and fifty feet: from its form it received the name of Table Mount. Its summit is a very distinctly formed oval-shaped crater, about one hundred feet across its major axis. On the north side of this hill are some perfect basaltic columns, very beautifully arranged, and numerous fragments of the same prismatic structure are ​strewed about and piled around the sides of the cone. From this point we obtained a most commanding and extensive view of the neighbouring country, of a considerable portion of its northwestern coast, and of the adjacent islands.
On the south side of the harbour is the extraordinary rock noticed by Cook, and which forms so conspicuous an object in his accurate, drawing of this place. It is a huge mass of basalt much more recent than the rock on which it rests, and through which it seems to have burst in a semi-fluid state. It is upwards of five hundred feet thick, and rests upon the older rock at an elevation of six hundred feet above the level of the sea; and it was between these rocks of different ages that the fossil trees were chiefly found, and one exceeding seven feet in circumference was dug out and sent to England. Some of the pieces appeared so recent that it was necessary to take it in your hand to be convinced of its fossil state, and it was most curious to find it in every stage, from that of charcoal lighting and burning freely when put in the fire, to so high a degree of silicification as to scratch glass. A bed of shale, several feet in thickness, which was found overlaying some of the fossil trees had probably prevented their carbonization when the fluid lava poured over them. A still more extraordinary feature in the geology of this island is the numerous seams of coal, varying in thickness from a few inches to four feet, which we found imbedded in the trap rock; the positions of two of ​the larger of these seams are marked on the annexed plan. Whether the coal is in sufficient abundance ever to be of commercial importance we had not the opportunity of ascertaining: but at the present day, when steam vessels are traversing every portion of the ocean, it may not be unworthy a more extended examination, for in no situation would it be more desirable to have a coal depôt than at this island, lying, as it does, immediately in the high road to all our Indian and Australasian colonies, abounding with excellent harbours, and at a convenient distance from the Cape of Good Hope. For many interesting geological details respecting the formation of the land in the vicinity of Christmas Harbour I must refer to the following report of Mr. M’Cormick, who was most indefatigable in its examination:—
"The northern extremity of the island, visited by the expedition, is entirely of volcanic origin: the bold headlands of Capes Cumberland and François present a striking appearance from the sea; the trap rocks, of which they are composed, form a succession of terraces nearly horizontal, which, on first making the land, have a very striking resemblance to stratified sandstone or limestone.
"Basalt is the prevailing rock, assuming the prismatic form, and passing into greenstone, and the various modifications of amygdaloid and porphyry. The general direction of the mountain ranges inclines to the S.W. and N.E., varying in height generally from 500 to 2500 feet. Many of the hills are intersected by trap dykes; these dykes are ​of very frequent occurrence, and are usually of basalt.
"Several conical hills, with crater-shaped summits, have evidently once been volcanic vents. Three or four very singular isolated hills, composed of an igneous kind of arenaceous rock which occur in Cumberland Bay, present a very smooth outline; they consist of pieces of broken fragments, through which the mass protrudes in places in prismatic columns.
"The vast quantities of debris which have accumulated at the base of the hills, in many places to the height of 200 or 300 feet and upwards, afford strong evidence of the rapid disintegration which this land is undergoing from the sudden atmospheric vicissitudes to which it is exposed.
"The whole island appears to be deeply indented by bays and inlets, the surface intersected by numerous small lakes and watercourses. These becoming swollen by the heavy rains which alternate with the frost and snow, accompanied by violent gusts of wind, rush down the sides of the mountains and along the ravines in countless impetuous torrents, forming in many places beautiful foaming cascades, wearing away the rocks, and strewing the platforms and valleys below with vast fragments, and slopes of a rich alluvium, the result of their decomposition.
"Quartz, in beautiful crystals, forming drusy cavities in the trap rocks in Cumberland Bay, occurs in great abundance, whilst zeolites predominate in the rocks about Christmas Harbour.
​"The most remarkable geological feature in the island is the occurrence of fossil wood and coal, and, what is still more extraordinary, imbedded in the igneous rocks. The wood, which for the most part is highly silicified, is found enclosed in the basalt, whilst the coal crops out in ravines, in close contact with the overlying porphyritic and amygdaloidal greenstone.
CHRISTMAS HARBOUR,
"In which the ships were moored during the period the expedition remained at the island, is bounded on the south side by a ridge of basaltic rocks, disposed in terraces and platforms, dipping slightly to the N.W., and surmounted by a remarkable block of basalt, rising to about 1000 feet above the harbour. It has in some places a conglomerate structure, the enclosed fragments being excessively hard and ponderous. It is beneath this rock that the fossil wood is found, I having discovered the first fragment whilst ascending the hill on the day after the ships were secured in the harbour, and on a further search it was found in considerable abundance, both imbedded in the basalt and in the debris below, or scattered on the surface amongst the fragments of rock. A portion of the trunk of a large tree, seven feet in circumference, and much silicified, was dug out of the soil immediately below the rock. About 400 feet from the summit is a bed of shale, nearly horizontal, averaging six feet in thickness; but in some ​places it is exposed to a much greater extent. No remains of leaves could be discovered in it, although the wood occurs in the basalt near it.
"The 'Arched Rock' at the entrance to the harbour terminates this ridge to the southward. It is about 150 feet high, the base of the arch 100 feet across, and is composed of the same kind of basaltic rock. Several fragments of wood, much twisted, softer, and more recent in appearance than the hard silicified wood above described, occur enclosed in the basalt in the inside of the 'arch.'
"In the small bay inside of 'Arched Point,' a bed of coal, four feet thick and forty feet in length, appears above the debris, thirty feet above the sea, and covered by basalt, which rises about 500 feet above it. The coal is slaty, of a brownish-black colour, and the fracture like wood coal: the bed takes a northerly direction.
"On the north side of the harbour, near the centre of the small bay formed by Cape François, a thin vein of coal, not more than two or three inches in thickness, again makes its appearance in a cave excavated in the shale. The coal is covered by a kind of 'slag,' and underlies the shale, above which the basalt rises to about the same height as on the south side of the harbour. The cave is thirty feet wide at the entrance, twenty feet deep, and twelve feet in height.
"From the centre of the terraced ridge terminating in Cape François rises a conical hill, its crater-shaped summit being 1200 feet above the level of the sea. A shallow lake (covered with ice ​at the time), thirty yards in length from N. to S., and contracted in the centre to six yards, occupies the depression at the summit, round which piles of fragments of prismatic basalt arise on the east and west to about fifty feet, sloping towards the north and south, where gaps are left. Perfect basaltic columns, some of them ten and twelve feet between the joints, being generally five or six angled prisms, are inclined round the acclivity of the cone, intermixed with piles of broken fragments, exhibiting the same prismatic structure. At a deep gorge, six feet wide, on the north side of the mountain, these columns are beautifully arranged. The narrow isthmus between the head of Christmas Harbour and the N.W. coast, scarcely a mile across, consists of low ridges, with intervening swampy ground, and two lakes: the rocks are amygdaloid, with superincumbent basalt.
CUMBERLAND BAY AND THE N.W. COAST, ETC.
"The primary objects of the two expeditions up this bay in boats having been to explore the N.W. or weather shore by an overland journey across the Isthmus, at the head of Cumberland Bay, the rapid movements of the party, amidst the most unfavourable weather, seldom afforded an opportunity for more than general remarks on the geological structure of the country passed through.
"On leaving Christmas Harbour two bays were passed,—'Foul Haven,' and 'Mussel Bay;' the ​headland dividing these presents a perpendicular escarpment of basalt. Approaching Cape Cumberland, the sea breaks upon a low black rugged ledge of basalt, backed by a swampy green bog, two miles in length, and half a mile in breadth, beyond which rises a range of trap hills.
"A remarkable rock, called the 'Sentry Box,' faces the entrance to Cumberland Bay; it was not landed upon, but the succession of terraces, nearly horizontal to its summit, sufficiently indicated its basaltic structure to be the same as the main land.
"The range of mountains flanking Cumberland Bay on each side generally present the same trap terraces as in Christmas Harbour. Six miles and a half up the bay are two inlets nearly opposite to each other; the one on the south side is a mile and half deep, a mile broad at its widest part, and one-third of a mile at the entrance. The trap rocks surrounding this bay differ from the others in containing drusy cavities of beautiful quartz crystals, many fine fragments of which were scattered about the surface of the rocky ledges.
"At the top of the bay is a remarkable hill, between 300 and 400 feet in height, constituted of an igneous arenaceous slate, confusedly intermingled with greenstone and basalt, having a crater-shaped summit, filled by a lake 200 yards long, and 150 broad, three feet deep near the margin, and the centre covered with thin ice. It is surrounded by an irregular wall of greenstone, from five to twenty feet in height.
​"The water finds an outlet by a watercourse down the S.E. side of the hill, forming a small cascade in its first descent from the lake.
"The ascent of the hill on the S.E. side is by a narrow gorge, three feet wide, nearly perpendicular, and through a mass of hard arenaceous rock, having a tendency to the prismatic form. On attaining the summit, a quantity of loose fragments of slate strew the surface. Near the centre, a basaltic dyke, three feet wide, and having a direction S.E. and N.W., divides an amorphous mass of arenaceous slate from the greenstone on the north side; the latter rock contains much hornblende, with a ferruginous-coloured surface. The base and sides are scattered over with loose pieces of slate, intermingled with masses of trap. There are three other gorges by which the hill may be ascended. The irregular structure of this hill, with its large 'crater-shaped' summit, and the confused intermingling of the trap and singular slate rock, which latter seem to be of an 'arenaceous' composition, indicate vast disturbance at the period it was thrown up from below.
"A little to the southward of this hill a bed of coal, one foot in thickness, and ten feet in length, breaks out in a cleft at the base of a hill along a watercourse having a S.E. and N.W. direction. The coal is very light and friable, with a beautiful black glossy fracture, and, like cannel coal, does not soil the fingers. It is covered by a porphyritic amygdaloid and greenstone rock, and not a vestige of shale or slate is to be found in the same hill. ​In the adjacent hill, south of this, another bed of coal appears at the surface for about twenty feet, also in a deep cleft in the mountain, about twenty yards up a watercourse, and fifty feet above the sea: the direction the same as the last. The coal, however, is very different, having a slaty fracture, and dull brownish-black colour: it burnt very well, the boat's crew having cooked their provisions with it. The bed is two feet in thickness, and appears again on the opposite side of the watercourse, which is twelve feet across, and traversed by a small dyke of basalt three inches in breadth. The superincumbent rock, as in the last instance, is amygdaloidal greenstone.
"In a S.E. direction from the head of the bay is an opening between the mountain ranges, found to terminate in a part of 'White Bay;' the Isthmus, five miles across, consisting of a few low ridges, and a valley of the usual trap formation. A large dyke of basalt crosses the latter in an E.N.E.½E. direction, forming a wall from three to four feet in height.
"At the S.W. end of the bay a creek runs up, beyond which is a swampy valley; and two miles from the head of the creek is a lake one mile and a half long, and nearly half a mile broad, filling up a pass in the mountains, which rise above it to the height of about 2500 feet, the highest land met with. This range presents the same trap formation of basalt, greenstone, and amygdaloid. Veins of hornstone, and an indurated claystone, were, however, first found in situ here, about a foot in ​thickness, although numerous fragments frequently occurred scattered about the watercourses. I found a solitary piece of fossil wood, highly silicified, at the upper margin of the lake—the only vestige met with in Cumberland Bay and its vicinity. A small lump of coal was also found near the lower end of the lake, but neither could be found in situ. The valley continued in a S.S.W. direction, between the same range, for four miles above the lake.
"In the small bay on the N. side of Cumberland Bay is a smooth undulating hill, covered with loose fragments of slate, piled up to 150 feet in height, and completely insulated from the greenstone range at the back. Some of the fragments of this remarkable looking 'arenaceous slate,' with red markings, bore a striking resemblance to the impressions of sea-weed. On the opposite or west side of the bay another 'slate hill' forms a kind of belt in the trap range, 600 feet high, covered with loose fragments from the summit to the base, through which amorphous masses protrude in places. At the line of junction with the basalt, where a watercourse runs down, it assumes a prismatic tendency. About two thirds up is a vein of friable slaty kind of slag, a foot deep, and ten feet in length, covered by the basalt, and in all probability a bed of coal exists beneath. The slaty fragments were not marked with the sea-weed-like impressions, as in the hill on the opposite side. On the south side of Cumberland Bay, near the upper end, is another of these remarkable hills, having a smooth marbled appearance at a distance, the light colour forming a great ​contrast with the dark trap ranges. The southern extremity rises to nearly 300 feet, gradually sloping down towards the north. Prismatic columns, mostly five and six angled, appear in places through the pile of loose fragments with which the hill is covered. The fragments of slate on this hill are much marked by red concentric lines, apparently caused by oxide of iron. In crossing over the Isthmus from the head of Cumberland Bay to the N.W. coast, several pieces of coal occurred scattered about a watercourse, but none in situ, although, had circumstances permitted its being followed up, a bed would no doubt have been discovered not far distant.
"On this coast, being the weather shore, the quantity of debris at the base of the hills is enormous, forming a steep slope of 300 to 500 feet, down to the black ledge of basalt on which the sea breaks. The whole is covered by a carpet of vegetation, intersected by numerous watercourses and cascades, rushing down from the trap range of mountains above, rendering it an almost impassable bog, in which the party sank knee-deep at every step. A bay was found to bound it, and all further progress to the westward."
The vegetable productions of this island cannot fail to be of more than ordinary interest to the botanist. So remote from any shores from which birds of passage might convey the seeds of their ​productions, it seems to have but a small number of plants, and some of these peculiar to the island; showing that since the successive overflowings of volcanic matter destroyed the forests which at one period clothed this land, of which the fossil trees and numerous beds of coal afford abundant proof, it appears to have remained in a state of almost vegetable desolation, and well deserves the name bestowed on it by Captain Cook. When he visited it in the height of summer, the land was covered with snow, and only five plants in flower were collected. In the depth of winter the climate seemed to be but little different—the thermometer during our stay seldom descending below the freezing point, and the snow never remaining on the lower grounds beyond two or three days at a time.
The following observations are by Dr. Hooker, the Assistant Surgeon of the Erebus, an able and zealous botanist, and to whom science is indebted for the very important and valuable work he is now publishing, under the title of "Flora Antarctica," of which several numbers have already appeared, and which, when complete, will comprise an account of all the plants collected during the expedition. The liberal grant of 1000l. from the Government will enable him to give drawings and dissections of all the hitherto undescribed plants, amounting to upwards of five hundred. To this work I must refer the scientific botanist for any further information he may require.
​"Though Kerguelen Island is situated in comparatively a low latitude, the vegetation is decidedly antarctic both because the majority of its native plants are peculiarly abundant in the same or higher parallels of the southern hemisphere, and from the mass of its vegetation being composed of comparatively few species.
"At a little distance, the island presents the appearance of absolute sterility, and when the voyager draws nearer the land, the scenery scarcely improves. A narrow belt of green grass runs along the quiet shores of the harbour, mixed with, and succeeded by, large rounded masses of a dirty green or rusty brown colour, due to the predominance of a curious umbelliferous plant, allied to the Bolax, or "Balsam Bog" of the Falkland Islands. Higher on the hills vegetation only exists in scattered tufts, the plants being the same as inhabit a loiver level, and it almost ceases at an elevation of 1000–1200 feet.
"Even the description given in Captain Cook's voyage falls short of the cheerless truth, when, quoting Mr. Anderson's journal, he says, 'Perhaps no place hitherto discovered in either hemisphere, under the same parallel of latitude, affords so scanty a field for the naturalist as this barren spot;' for he might assuredly have added ten degrees to its own latitude in southern regions, and upwards of twenty in the north, as the limits upon which such a paucity of species exists; for even in Spitzbergen ​there are nearly three times as many flowering plants as here.
"The number of species detected during Cook's stay in the island was eighteen, including Cryptogamia; these, with the exception of one Lichen, were refound during the visit of the antarctic expedition, when the flora was increased to about 150 in all; namely, eighteen of flowering plants, three ferns, twenty-five mosses, ten Jungermanniæ, one fungus, the rest lichens and seaweeds.
"Of the flowering plants, the two great Classes were in the proportion of 1 to 2, the lowest ratio which has yet been recorded; the nearest approach to it being seen in Melville Island, where Mr. Brown (in his remarks on the plants collected there by the officers of Captain Parry's first voyage) states the proportion to be as 2 to 5. The large proportion of monocotyledonous plants here arises, as in Melville Island, from the increased ratio which the grasses bear to the other phænogamic plants. In the latter island, according to Mr. Brown's list, it is as 1 to 3.7, or, as that botanist remarks, 'nearly double what has been found in any other part of the world.' In Kerguelen Island the disproportion is further increased, being as 1 to 2.6, a third greater than that of Melville Island, and the maximum hitherto observed, except in the South Shetlands, where a solitary grass composes all the flowering vegetation.
"Two phænogamic plants, out of the eighteen, belong to genera apparently peculiar to the island; ​one of them, the curious Cabbage-plant (Pringlea antiscorbutica), and the other a Portulaceous plant. Of the remaining sixteen, four are probably new species of antarctic American genera; ten are species actually inhabiting the latter country; six of these, also inhabitants of Auckland and Campbell Islands, and two are common throughout the whole southern and northern temperate and cooler zones. Of the cryptogamic plants, most are abundant in the higher southern latitudes, though many are hitherto undescribed, and, perhaps, twenty peculiar to this island. Many are natives of the European Alps, and more particularly of the north polar regions.
"Though Kerguelen Island is remote and comparatively bare of vegetation, there are several peculiarly interesting points connected with its Botany. Though now destitute of even a shrub, the abundance of fossil remains proves that many parts were for successive ages clothed with trees. The proportion of the surface that is covered with plants is about equal to that in Spitzbergen and Melville Island, yet the relative number of species to individuals falls strikingly short; for whilst the Flora of Melville Island boasts of sixty-seven species of flowering plants, and Spitzbergen of forty-five, Kerguelen Island contains but eighteen, and of these only eight cover any considerable amount of surface. The climate of the island is such, that, though rigorous, it supports a perennial vegetation; and scarcely ​any of the plants, even the grasses, can be called annuals. Of the five plants found blossoming during December by Captain Cook, four were observed in the same state in May, and three of them continued so until the twentieth of July; and in the month of June twelve out of the eighteen species were collected in flower. The repeated snow-storms had little influence in checking the verdure, and the umbelliferous plant was the only one actually frost-bitten by severe weather of three days' continuance.
"The more general features of the vegetation being thus cursorily noticed, there remains one plant which demands particular attention, the famous Cabbage of Kerguelen Island, hitherto unpublished, first discovered during Captain Cook's voyage. Specimens, together with a manuscript description, under the name of Pringlea, were deposited, in the collection formed by Mr. Anderson, in the British Museum, where they still exist. To a crew long confined to salt provisions, or indeed to human beings under any circumstances, this is a most important vegetable, for it possesses all the essentially good qualities of its English namesake, whilst from its containing a great abundance of essential oil, it never produces heartburn or any of those disagreeable sensations which our pot-herbs are apt to do. It abounds near the sea, and ascends the hills to their summits. The leaves form heads of the size of a good cabbage-lettuce, generally terminating an ascending or prostrate ​stalk, and the spike of flowers, borne on a leafy stem, rises from below the head, and is often two feet high. The root tastes like horse-radish, and the young leaves or hearts resemble in flavor coarse mustard and cress. For one hundred and thirty days our crews required no fresh vegetable but this, which was for nine weeks regularly served out with the salt beef or pork, during which time there was no sickness on board.
"Two species of grass may also be mentioned, as affording a nutritious fodder for goats, sheep, and pigs."
Of land animals we saw none; and the only traces we could discover of there being any on this island were the singular footsteps of a pony or ass, found by the party detached for surveying purposes, under the command of Lieutenant Bird, and described by Dr. Robertson "as being three inches in length and two and a half in breadth, having a small and deeper depression on each side, and shaped like a horse shoe." It is by no means improbable that the animal has been cast on shore from some wrecked vessel. They traced its footsteps for some distance in the recently fallen snow, in hopes of getting sight of it, but lost the tracks on reaching a large space of rocky ground which was free from snow.
There is, however, abundance of food for cattle. The sheep we landed from our ships throve wonderfully on the grass, and soon got into good condition; they also became so very shy that we were ​obliged to shoot them when wanted for our tables; one of mine managed to evade our most active sportsmen, and was left there when we took our departure. I regretted I had not brought with me some useful animals from the Cape of Good Hope, to have stocked the land.
Of marine animals, the sea elephant and several species of seals were formerly in great abundance, and annually drew a number of vessels to these shores in pursuit of them. They have now, after so many years of persecution, quite deserted the place, or have been most completely annihilated. One very fine specimen of the sea elephant was shot at Christmas Harbour during our stay, as also were a few seals. These are described in the "Zoology of the Voyage," now in progress of publication, by Dr. Richardson and I. E. Gray, Esq., of the British Museum, with the assistance of 1000l., granted by the Government, at the recommendation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for the necessary illustrations and dawings of the unknown animals that were- collected during the voyage.
Some whales were seen at the entrance of the harbour, and by the parties employed in surveying the coast. These creatures appear still to be found in great numbers, so that in 1843, when we returned to the Cape of Good Hope, we heard that there were between five and six hundred whale ships fishing along the shores or in the immediate neighbourhood of this land; that most of them ​were nearly full; that from their great numbers constant accidents were happening in the thick fogs which prevail, by running foul of each other; and several vessels arrived at the Cape in a very shattered state. This fishery might be most successfully pursued from the Cape of Good Hope, but it is now chiefly carried on by American vessels.
Several kinds of fish were seen, and a large collection was made, amongst them were many new species. In the account now publishing by Dr. Richardson, he has described two new genera, under the names Notothenia, of which three species were found here, and Chæmethys, of which there is yet only one known species, Rhinoceratus; it has a general resemblance to the gurnards and prionotes: all the species of these two genera inhabit the kelp weed of the shores of the harbour; they were taken by the hook, and proved acceptable to the table, being some of them a foot and a half long; they feed on Entomostraca, and small shell-fish that live amongst the weed.
Fifteen different species of sea-fowl were shot in the harbour, or found along its shores; amongst these, several species of petrel, three kinds of penguin, two species of gull, a duck, a cormorant, a tern, and a curious "chionis," different in some particulars from that first described by Forster, and probably a new species.
Of the sooty albatross (Diomedea fuliginosa), which appeared to have selected this as a breeding station, several young birds were still to be met ​with, although so late in the season, fully fledged, and ready to commence their long flight over the Antarctic seas.
The duck was obtained in abundance, and formed a delicious addition to our table. It is like the teal of England, and lives chiefly on the seeds of the cabbage, before mentioned, which is profusely scattered over all parts of the island.
The penguins, notwithstanding the disagreeable dark colour of its flesh and extreme fatness, were found to make excellent soup, which from its colour and flavour so much resembled hare soup, that it was always called by that name.
Of insects, only three or four specimens were found, viz. a curculio, amongst the umbelliferous plants; a small brownish moth, and two flies; but probably in the summer time many others would make their appearance.
The level beach at the head of the harbour afforded us convenient sites for our observatories, which were immediately erected; that for magnetic purposes being placed at the north extreme, under the protection of the hill to the north, which effectually prevented the sun's rays deranging the temperature, and within a few feet of high-water mark; that for the astronomical and pendulum observations on nearly the same level, at more than a hundred yards distant from it towards the centre of the beach; and close by this two small huts were erected for the convenience of the officers and men employed at the observatories.
​The ships were warped up to the head of the harbour, and moored in a situation convenient for ready intercourse with the observatories; and although our operations were much impeded by frequent violent gales, we were enabled to get all the magnetometers placed and adjusted in time to take our part in the simultaneous observations made on the previously agreed on term-days of the 29th and 30th May in all the foreign and British observatories that constitute the great system of magnetic co-operation. It happened most fortunately to be a time of unusual magnetic disturbance, so that our first day's simultaneous observations proved the vast extent and instantaneous effect of the disturbing power, whatever it might be, affecting the magnetometers at Toronto in Canada and at Kerguelen Island, nearly antipodal to each other, simultaneously and similarly in all their strange oscillations and irregular movements, and thus immediately afforded one of the most important facts that the still-hidden cause of magnetic phenomena has yet presented.
A most interesting and valuable series of hourly magnetometric observations was continued night and day throughout the whole period of our stay at this island, with such exactness to time, and so much zeal and unwearying perseverance, by the officers of the Erebus and Terror, under the more immediate direction of Commander Crozier, that not a single break occurred, nor was a single hour's observation lost.
​The astronomical, tidal, and pendulum observations occupied my attention exclusively; and in these I was also assisted by Commander Crozier, both of us living in one of the compartments of the observatory, only going off to the ships on Sunday to read the church service and inspect the vessels.
The senior lieutenants had charge of the ships, and occupied the crews in refitting the rigging, and the more toilsome operation of frequently resetting the anchors; for although these and the cables were of a weight and size usually supplied to ships of double our tonnage, they were unable to withstand, the almost hurricane violence of the gales that prevail at this season of the year, sometimes laying the ships over nearly on their beam ends, and the sheet anchor was constantly resorted to. On one occasion the whole body of the astronomical observatory was moved nearly a foot; and had not the lower framework fortunately been sunk to a good depth below the level of the ground, it would have doubtless been blown into the sea.
The gusts occur so suddenly that I have frequently been obliged to throw myself down on the beach to prevent being carried into the water, and one of our men, whose duty it was to register the tide-gauge, was actually driven in by one of the squalls, and very nearly drowned.
During forty-five of the sixty-eight days the ships were in Christmas Harbour it blew a gale of wind, and there were only three days on which neither rain nor snow fell.
​It was this extremely tempestuous weather which prevented a more extensive survey of the island. Lieutenant Bird, with two boats under his command, examined White's Bay, and with the assistance of Mr. Tucker and Mr. Davis surveyed several of its harbours. Lieutenant Philips examined Cumberland Bay, and crossed from the head of it over to the west coast, but was unable to trace it beyond a few miles, owing to the swampy nature of the land. Mr. McCormick and Mr. Robertson accompanied these expeditions to examine the geological and zoological productions of the country. But the severe weather they experienced kept us all in a state of anxiety about them the whole time of their absence, and the little they could accomplish was but too dearly purchased by so much suffering and exposure, and deterred me from permitting any further prosecution of their labours.
The anchorages in Cumberland Bay are much superior to those of Christmas Harbour, and are not exposed to such violent winds; they are, however, not of so ready access, and could only be entered in clear and moderate weather.
There are also several good harbours in White's Bay, of which accurate plans were made by Mr. Davis, and will be published by the Admiralty, with the chart of Kerguelen Island.
The rise and fall of tide in Christmas Harbour is remarkably small, not on any occasion amounting to more than thirty inches, and the usual spring tides are generally less than two feet; the neap tide ​varies from four to twelve inches, and the diurnal inequality is, comparatively, very considerable. The height of the tide was registered every quarter of an hour between the 3d of June and 4th of July; and the time of high water at full and change of the moon was exactly at two o'clock.
Our observations gave the latitude of the observatory 48° 41′ S., and its longitude 6S° 3′ 35" E. The mean dip of the magnetic needle 69° 59′ 4″ S., and the variation 30° 33′ 35″ E.
The term-day observations for the month of June being completed, and the absolute determinations obtained, the instruments and houses were embarked, and the ships got ready for sea by the middle of July, but adverse weather detained us still a few days longer, and we were not able to leave this most dreary and disagreeable harbour until the 20th July.