The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-02-07

increasing whether or not the islands were
occupied by the human spices, until now
they are countless. There are also at least
100000 wild horses, sprung from stock
originally imported. Yet sheep raising is
the main industry of the archipelago, it
having proved more profitable than the
rearing of cattle; and though many of the
districts are too swampy for sheep, there
are said to be not less than 400, 600 of them
on the islands. They
ARE ALL OF EUROPEAN BREEDS,
and the Cheviot variety is the favorite, one
| fleece averaging twelve pounds under
favorable conditions. There are no wild
animals to kill the sheep, and the complete
absence of burr, or any substance injurious
to the fleece is, of course, an advaDt age;
while the many springs and small fresh
water lakes are of great Importance to the
sheep and cattle breeders. A few years
ago the Falkland Island company adopted
process of boiling down whole carcasses
into tallow, and the successful result has
added another profitable industry. Before
leaving the subject of indigenous growths,
l want to tell you about the 'BalSam bog, -
vegetable wonder which l have never
heard OF in any part Of the world. APP
preaching the low grounds in many of the
Islands, you think they are scattered all
over with huge gray boulders, from five to
ten feet across. To helghten the illusion,
/ the blocks are covered with lichens, and
grass is seen growing in their crevices
where dust has collected precisely as it
would in riffs or rock. Each boulder-like
mass Is single unbelIiferous plant
BOLAXGLIBARIA
which has been so slow in growing and
the condensation from constant branching
/ so great that it has become almost as hard
as the rock it resem bleS-so hard that it is
/ difficult to cut shaving from its surface
with sharp knife. Examine closely q
lump Of balsam bog and you will find it
| covered with tiny hexagonal markings, like
the calices of weathered piece of coral
! These are the circlets of leaves and leaf
buds, terminating a multitude of STEMS
| which for centuries have gone on growing
with extreme SlowneSs-eyer since the
now enormous plant started out-a single
shoot from q tiny reed. When the sun
shines warm it gives forth pleasant arc
matte odor, and the yellowish, astringent
gum that exudes from the top is priced by
] the shepherds as a Vulneary. On most of
the islands shrub abounds which the peo-
( pie use for tea, though it bears
NO RESEMBLANCE TO THE CHINESE PLANT
or to the famous mate of Paraguay and
Brazil. 1t is species of adianth, bearing
a fragrant white berry, and the leaves, in
! fused in boiling water, make an agreeable
! beverage. In the taklauGs, as in all
Antarctic America, celery grows in wild
J luxurance. Late as 1867 there was not a
single settler on West Falkland, though it
is eighty miles long by twenty-five miles
wide, and separated from its twin island
by narrow sound. 1t is more billy than
any of the other islands. being crossed by a
rugged range whose highest peak attains
an altitude of 2, 210 feet. Just twenty five
years ago the English government, having
learned that West Falkland con tanned some
OF the best grazing grounds in the world,
issued proclamation Offering great induce
ments to colonists. with the happy result
that in ten months time every acre of
available land was occupied. and for several
years past the annual export of the finest
wool from this one island has averaged
1900 pounds.
The general
APPEARANCE OF WEST FALKLAND
is about as forlorn as can well be imagined
vast tracts of sombre moorlanG, unre-
lieved by tree or shrub, traversed by rocky
ridges and limited by q low coast upon
which surf RACES with continual violence.
Nothing can be more dismal than the view
from any hill top black bog and moorland,
lar as the eye can reach, intermixed by In
Vulnerable pools of greenish-brown water
A peculiar feature of the geology OF the
country Is that 1t abounds in streams, not
of water, but Of stones, which appear to
flow down the aillsides. These streams
are often quarter of mile in width, and
the stones vary from one to five feet cube.
As for genuine rivers, there are none Of
any consequence on the islands, San Carlos,
on East Falkland, being the largest-about
thirty miles long and nowhere navigable
Fortunately, for so cold country, there is
a great deal of peat, which every body
burns the year round for fuel Some of I. g
peat beds are of great size aud depth-very
dense and bituminous at the bottom, and
the
SUPPLY IS INEXHAUSTIBLE.
The settlers claim that the freedom from,
timber is an advantage rather than an OBJ
lection, because the land requires no clear
ing except from the stones, and the latter
make excellent fencing and building ma
terial
The most interesting village of West
Falkland is Port Egmont, where the first
British colony was founded-in l765-sfter
Commodore Byron had wrested the islands
from Spain. Its sole defense and chief
ornament is a large timber block house.
which was made in England many years
ago and brought out in pieces, and would be
about as useful as an egg shell agains s,
modern implements of warfare. To pin an
OlQ ERnOuJ0r QOWQ 10 an evenings warning
about his ''halr- breadth escapes in whal-
ing and sealing, is one of the most interest
ing experiences to be met with in this part
of the world. At one time the Falkland
island trade in whale and seal oil and seal
skins was of great value, but is now almost
at an end, for those
HUGE SEA ANIMALS
frequent these shores in yearly diminished
numbers Seal hunters pursue their adj
venturous calling on much the same plan as
miners in our own far west used to 90
prospecting on GRUB stake" That is, thew
hire boat by agreeing to pay its owner a
certain share of what they may bring back,
employ crew on the same terms, select
one OF their number for captain, obtain
their provisions from some accommodating
dealer as they did the boat, and start off on
three or four months expedition among
the islands. Whaling in these waters is
now pr. ncipally followed by Americans
Nantucketers and others, VINO have their
headquarters on New Island. on the west
ern archipelago. / have heard many wild
and startling incidents connected with
their lives; but the hardy seamen have
proved their intelligence and attention tc
the scientific side of their business by the
varied information they have sent to the
United States photographic department
The most
TERRIFYING LOOKING BEASTS
ever met in their natural stete are the ses