Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1924-08-08

Soliplclciy pullSu ny I'LL lte-CdpL Lie
high ground Of the interior ss COW
cred with an everlasting neve, which
consolidates at the sources of all the
valleys to form tongues Of ice, most
of which extend clear into the sea,
ending In abrupt walls.
The one incomprehensible statement
in Captain Cooks account of South
Georgia Is his emphatic testimony that
he saw no brook or stream along the
whole coast. Certainly today the
rushing torrents are great impede
ment to progress on land, and during
January thaws cleaning cascades, wis.,
| ible from far at sea, pour from the
lodges of the coast hills.
The climate of South Georgia varies
relatively little throughout the year.
The mean annual temperature Is very
close to the freezing point and the
sky Is prevailingly overloaded. Feb
ruary is the warmest month. Snow,
| generally In the form of hard, globu-
lar particles, which sting the skin like
hail, falls in every month, and rain
and sleet storms are both frequent and
prolonged during the summer. Either
rain or snow falls on about five-sixths
of the days Of the whole year.
The greatest proportion OF clear
days is in winter; but November and
December, the springtime Of the south
ern world, are often made memorable
| by few successive days of sunshine,
while on rare midsummer afternoons
of January and February the jealous
Ice King Is sometimes lulled to sleep,
the thermometer rises as high as So
degrees Fahrenheit, and South Geor-
gia basks in a sparkling calm. Only
on such fieeting occasions is the
subtle feeling of the glaciers absent
from the land and sea.
Has Oceanic Climate.
South Georgia has an oceanic, as
opposed to a continental, climate; Ii
is under the continual eQualizing In
fiuence of the sea, and 1t thoroughly
demonstrates how much more unfav-
orable to the production of varied
flora is a constantly low temperature
| than seasonal cold Of the severest
| kind
Owing to the same oceanic life con-
ditions, the land animals Of South
Georgia are even fewer than the
plants. There is no Indigenous ter
restrial mammal, but rats, horses and
reindeer have been introduced and are
thriving in a wild state. The rats
were probably first brought by sealing
vessels a hundred years ago.
Most remarkable Of all the living
! things of South Georgia, perhaps, are
| the great clumsy sea elephants. They
have contentious dispositions and are
given to fighting among themselves
from earliest puphood, yet fondness
for company Is one of their marked
| traits. An animal coming out of the
| sea is obviously not contented on a
lonely shore. 1t wanders about nerv-
Ously between brief resting periods
and soon returns to the water, per-
haps feeling that it must find some
one to quarrel with.
A sea-elephant, when landing, crawls
slowly up the strand. stopping to let
the waves break over 1t and taking
advantage of every swell to aid its
progress. When it has reached the
| upper beach it rises to it's full height
and reconnoiters; then, proceeding a
little farther, it repeats the action on
if 1t spies none of it's kind, 1t NAV take
siesta before continuing the seaE,h,
The two dozen species of birds which
breed on South Georgia offer d fas-
cinating field for the study Of certain
biological questions, notably the Ssrus
gle for existence. OF special interest
are the penguins Two species are
stin common at South Georgia,
The nobler tribe of penguins. the
"kings," form sort of hereditary arts
tocracy. They are stalwart birds
which stand yard high They wear
a gold collar round their necks, and
deport themselves in rather lofty
and snobbish manner.
A band Of king penguins makes
glorious display when the morning stli-
light shines on the golden threats
and orange ear-patches Of the soldier
lv birds. Sometimes the brlgades,
scattered here and there over the
beaches and moraines, hail and an
swer each other with long-drawn, mar
tial, bugle calls, and then, as If at a
concerted signal. all will start march
ing toward the sea. Sometimes the
birds stand together on the sunny
side of a snowdEift, preentng their
| feathers, marking time" or even per-
forming the difficult stunt of balancing
| themselves on one foot and scratch
ing their heads with the other.