Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/462

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This island lies about ten miles north-west of Cape Horn, near the latitude of 56° S., and, with the exception of that celebrated cape, is the southernmost of those Fuegian Isles in which the vast continent of the New World terminates to the southward. It is of irregular form, deeply indented by bays and coves; its shores bold and steep, surmounted by conical peaks, that of Mount Kater being 1742 feet above the sea. Its greatest length is from east to west, being twelve miles. The geological structure is very simple, being entirely of plutonic origin: syenitic greenstone, resting on a basis of granite, with here and there some quartzose and felspathic rocks. Having ascended all the peaks bounding St. Martin's Cove, I found them composed of syenitic greenstone, with the exception of Forster's Peak, which is capped with a hard, fine-grained, dark greenstone; and the same kind of rock also occurs scattered about in masses over the western ridge, and in a cleft at the base of Mount Kater. The greenstone has polarity, and is highly magnetic in places.

In an excursion I made across the central ridge of hills to the northern shore of the island, I found the nest of the Antarctic Goose (Anas antarctica), containing seven eggs, about the size and colour of a duck's; the nest, which was formed of down from the breast of the bird, was concealed amongst grass in the bank skirting the beach, near a Fuegian hut; from which two of the natives made their appearance, and expressed by signs their great desire for the eggs; but on my shooting the goose, and leaving it in their possession, they seemed quietly enough disposed to receive it as an equivalent. This circumstance enabled me very satisfactorily to account for the great scarcity of birds in this island, as their eggs are doubtless all devoured by the Fuegians as soon as laid. Near the