- The Following Table Gives The
Mean Temperature Of Tierra Del Fuego, The Falkland Islands,
And, For Comparison, That Of Dublin:
-
Summer Winter Mean of Summer
Latitude Temp. Temp. and Winter
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Tierra del Fuego 53 38' S. 50 33.08 41.54
Falkland Islands 51 38' S. 51 - -
Dublin 53 21' N. 59.54 39.2 49.37
Hence we see that the central part of Tierra del Fuego is
colder in winter, and no less than 9.5 degs. less hot in
summer, than Dublin. According to von Buch, the mean
temperature of July (not the hottest month in the year)
at Saltenfiord in Norway, is as high as 57.8 degs.,
and this place is actually 13 degs. nearer the pole
than Port Famine! [8] Inhospitable as this climate appears
to our feelings evergreen trees flourish luxuriantly under
it. Humming-birds may be seen sucking the flowers, and
parrots feeding on the seeds of the Winter's Bark, in lat.
55 degs. S. I have already remarked to what a degree the
sea swarms with living creatures; and the shells (such as
the Patellae, Fissurellae, Chitons, and Barnacles),
according to Mr. G. B. Sowerby, are of a much larger size
and of a more vigorous growth, than the analogous species in
the northern hemisphere. A large Voluta is abundant in
southern Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. At
Bahia Blanca, in lat. 39 degs. S., the most abundant shells were
three species of Oliva (one of large size), one or two Volutas,
and a Terebra. Now, these are amongst the best characterized
tropical forms. It is doubtful whether even one
small species of Oliva exists on the southern shores of
Europe, and there are no species of the two other genera.
If a geologist were to find in lat 39 degs. on the coast of
Portugal a bed containing numerous shells belonging to three
species of Oliva, to a Voluta and Terebra, he would probably
assert that the climate at the period of their existence must
have been tropical; but judging from South America, such an
inference might be erroneous.
The equable, humid, and windy climate of Tierra del
Fuego extends, with only a small increase of heat, for many
degrees along the west coast of the continent. The forests
for 600 miles northward of Cape Horn, have a very similar
aspect. As a proof of the equable climate, even for 300 or
400 miles still further northward, I may mention that in
Chiloe (corresponding in latitude with the northern parts
of Spain) the peach seldom produces fruit, whilst strawberries
and apples thrive to perfection. Even the crops of
barley and wheat [9] are often brought into the houses to be
dried and ripened. At Valdivia (in the same latitude of
40 degs., with Madrid) grapes and figs ripen, but are not
common; olives seldom ripen even partially, and oranges not at
all. These fruits, in corresponding latitudes in Europe, are
well known to succeed to perfection; and even in this continent,
at the Rio Negro, under nearly the same parallel
with Valdivia, sweet potatoes (convolvulus) are cultivated;
and grapes, figs, olives, oranges, water and musk melons,
produce abundant fruit.
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