Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/297

] becomes often a labyrinth, and sometimes a dangerous one to the visitor; for these spots are the resort of sea-lions, which, when incautiously disturbed, bite very severely. Both the Tussock-grass and Balsam-bog are found in Tierra del Fuego; but in the Falkland Islands they are most abundant and luxuriant. The latter plant, commencing as a little herb, and densely tufted like a saxifrage, by gradually and repeatedly branching, and these branches being covered with leaves, and radiating on every side, and all growing to the same length, forms a ball. When still larger, it assumes the form of a hemispherical cushion, rising out of the ground, of a pale yellow-green colour, and very firm substance: the little branches being so densely and uniformly packed together that they present an even surface, of such hardness and compactness that the knuckles may be broken against the mass. These hummocks of living vegetable matter often attain a height of four feet, and an equal or much greater diameter. They are called Balsam-bogs, from their fragrant and resinous smell; or, sometimes misery-balls, because they generally indicate a barren soil. The plant belongs to the same natural order as the carrot (Umbelliferæ): the flowers are similarly produced in little umbels: its striking difference in habit from the northern species of that order, is a character which it shares with some other antarctic plants: they constitute together a group of the Umbelliferæ, almost peculiar to the higher latitudes