The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-02-11

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 advantage; 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 Co. adopted process of
boiling down whole carcasses into tallow
and the successful result has added anoth-
er profitable industry.
Before leaving the subject of Indigenous
growths, | want to tell you about the
"Balsam-b bog, a vegetable wonder which
| have never heard of in any other part of
the world. Approaching the low grounds
in many of the islands, you think they are
scattered all over with huge gray boulders,
the illusion, the blocks are covered with
ichens, and grass is seen growing in their
crevices where dust has collected, precise
" as it would in riffs of rock. Each bould-
el-like mass is a single unbelliferous plant
-Bolaxglebaria- 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 re-
sembles-so hard that it is difficult to cut
a shaving from its surface with sharp
knife. Examine closely a lump of bal
sam bog, and you will find it covered with
tiny heXagonal markings, like the calices
of a withered piece of coral. These are
the circlets of leaves and leaf-budS, ter
minating multitude of stems. which for
centuries have gone on growing with eX-
IRENE slowness. ever since the now enor-
nous plant started out, a single shoot from
a tiny reed When the sun shines warm
it gives forth a pleasant aromatic odor,
and the yellowish, astringent gum that
exudes from the top is priced by the
shepherds as vulneary. On most of the
islands a shrub abounds which the people
use for tea. though it bears no resem-
blance to the Chinese plant or to the IA
nous mate of Paraguay and Brazil. 1t is
a species of adianth bearing a fragrant
white berry. and the leaves. infused in
boiling water. make an agreeable beverage.
In the Falklands. as in all Antarctic
America, celery grows in wild luxuriance.
Late as 1867 there was not single set
tier on West Falkland, though it is eighty
miles long by twenty-five miles wide. and
separated from its twin island only by
narrow Sound. 1t is more lilly than any
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 offer
ing great inducements to colollists; with
the happy result that in ten months time
every acre of available land was occupied
and for several years past the annual ex-
port of finest wool from this one island
has averaged 800 pounds
The general appearance of West Falk-
land is about as fororn as can we'll be
imagined-vast tracts of sOmbre moor
land. unrelieveG by tree or shrub travers-
ed by rocky ridges and limited by a low
coast upon which surf RACES with contin-
mol violence Y at1,i,,,r IN. IL
nal than the view from any hilltop
black bog and mooIland far as the eye
can reach, intellnixcd by innumerable
pools of greeniSh- brown water. \ pecu-
liar feature OF the geology Of the country
is that it ahollnds in streams. not of water
hut of stones, which appear to flow down
quarter Of mile WIDE and the stones
vary from one to five feet cube. AS for
genuine rivers there are none of any con-
sequence on the islands, san Carlos. on
East Falkland being the cst.-alout
thirty miles long and nowhere navigable.
Fortunately for so cold country there is
Il great itdl ol peat. Willtn everybody
burns the year round for fuel Some of
the peat beds are of great size and depth,
very dense and bituminous at bot
tom, and the supply is inexhaustibie. The
settlers claim that the freedom from tim
Der is an advantage rather than an obiec-
ton, 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, Tin 1862 af-
ter 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
against modern implements of warfare.
To pin an old Egmonter down to an even
ing's yarning about his chair breadth
scrapes' in whaling and sealing, is one of
the most interesting experiences to be met
with in this part of the world. At one
time the Falkland Island trade in whale