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Chap. VIII.]
FRANKLIN ISLAND.
215
1841
Jan. 27.
Jan. 27.
Royal Navy, to whom, and his amiable lady, I have already had occasion to express the gratitude we all felt for the great kindness we received at their hands, and the deep interest they manifested in all the objects of the expedition. Having procured numerous specimens of the rocks of the island, we hastened our departure, in consequence of the perishing condition of our unlucky companion, and succeeded in embarking without any further accident; we gained the ships before nine o'clock, all of us thoroughly drenched to the skin, and painfully cold.
Franklin Island is situate in lat. 76° 8′ S., long. 168° 12′ E. It is about twelve miles long and six broad, and is composed wholly of igneous rocks; the northern side presents a line of dark precipitous cliffs, between five and six hundred feet high, exposing several longitudinal broad white, probably aluminous, bands of several feet thickness; two or three of them were of a red ochre colour, and gave a most strange appearance to the cliffs. We could not perceive the smallest trace of vegetation, not even a lichen or piece of sea-weed growing on the rocks; and I have no doubt from the total absence of it at both the places we have landed, that the vegetable kingdom has no representative in antarctic lands. We observed that the white petrel had its nests on the ledges of the cliffs, as had also the rapacious skua gull; several seals were seen, and it is by no means improbable that the beach on which we in vain attempted to land may,