congenial
climate, and within the forest the number of species and great abundance
of mosses, lichens, and small ferns, is quite extraordinary. In Tierra
del Fuego every level piece of land is invariably covered by a thick bed
of peat. In the Chonos Archipelago where the nature of the climate more
closely approaches that of Tierra del Fuego, every patch of level ground
is covered by two species of plants (_Astelia pumila_ and _Donatia
megellanica_), which by their joint decay compose a thick bed of elastic
peat.

"In Tierra del Fuego, above the region of wood-land, the former of these
eminently sociable plants is the chief agent in the production of peat.
Fresh leaves are always succeeding one to the other round the central
tap-root; the lower ones soon decay, and in tracing a root downwards in
the peat, the leaves, yet holding their places, can be observed passing
through every stage of decomposition, till the whole becomes blended in
one confused mass. The Astelia is assisted by a few other plants,--here
and there a small creeping Myrtus (_M. nummularia_), with a woody stem
like our cranberry and with a sweet berry,--an Empetrum (_E. rubrum_),
like our heath,--a rush (_Juncus grandiflorus_), are nearly the only ones
that grow on the swampy surface. These plants, though possessing a very
close general resemblance to the English species of the same genera, are
different. In the more level parts of the country the surface of the peat
is broken up into little pools of water, which stand at different
heights, and appear as if artificially excavated. Small streams of water,
flowing underground, complete the disorganisation of the vegetable
matter, and consolidate the whole.

"The climate of the southern part of America appears particularly
favourable to the production of peat. In the Falkland Islands almost
every kind of plant, even the coarse grass which covers the whole surface
of the land, becomes converted into this substance: scarcely any
situation checks its growth; some of the beds are as much as twelve feet
thick, and the lower part becomes so solid when dry that it will hardly
burn. Although every plant lends its aid, yet in most parts the Astelia
is the most efficient.

"It is rather a singular circumstance, as being so very different from
what occurs in Europe, that I nowhere saw moss forming by its decay any
portion of the peat in South America. With respect to the northern limit
at which the climate allows