KERGUELEN (lcerg'e-len) LAND, or DESOLATION ISLAND, an island in the Indian Ocean, intersected by lat. 49° 3' S., long. 18' E.• length about 100 miles; greatest breadth about 50 miles; area, about 2,500 square miles. It has a remarkably barren and desolate appearance, due to the fact that it consists of lofty masses of basalt and other volcanic rocks. These rise to the height of 2,500 feet, present ing numerous bold headlands and ranges of precipitous cliffs, and possessing a very scanty vegetation. The highest point, Mount Ross, is over 6,000 feet. Sea-fowl are numerous but no indigenous land animals exist on it. Its inden ta,tions furnish several bays and inlets affording good harbors. It was annexed by France in 1893, and some settlers have made their abode there at Port Jeanne d'Arc since 1907. Of the flora, which is arctic, the most noteworthy spe cies is the Kerguelen cabbage (Pringlea antis corbutica), a large edible plant, in many ways resembling common garden cabbage, and which has been valued on account of its antiscorbutic properties. The name of the island is derived from Kerguelen-Tremarec (q.v.), a Breton navigator who discovered it in 1772. Captain Cook (who named it Desolation Island) visited there in 1776, as also did the Challenger in 1874. There are some 300 smaller islands scat
tered around, and the waters abound in fish, whales and seals.
tra'ma'rek, Yves Joseph de, French explorer: b. Brittany, 1734; d. 1797. He served in the navy and in 1771 was sent in command of a corvette by the French government to explore a great continent that was supposed to lie southeast of Africa. He discovered Kerguelen island (q.v.), took possession in the name of France, and returned home with the news that he had found the °continent." His claim was discredited, though he was promoted as a re ward by Louis XV. A second voyage in 1773 74 still failed to convince him that he had only found an island. Various charges were brought against him; he was court-martialed and im prisoned, but pardoned by the king and ordered to write an account of his explorations. Cap tain Cook explored the archipelago 1776-77 and dispelled the continental theory, which led the French government to order the destruction of the copies of Kerguelen's 'Relation de deux voyages dans les mers australes faits de 1770 a 1774', of which very few copies now exist. He wrote some other works and was made vice-admiral during the Revolution: