THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 



327 



into Greenland, or to a monntain chain which is far removed from 

 what is assumed to be the continental border. 



The ablest discussion of the physical and geographical rela- 

 tions of Antarctica is furnished by the late Dr. Petermann in the 

 MittlieiliLngen of 1863. He there argues strongly in favor of at 

 least a partially open South Polar Sea, whose position is located 

 central to the great ice masses which radiate out from it, and in 



Sketch Map of the Antarctic Tract, giving the more Important Points that have 



BEEN NAMED BY ISAVIGATOKS. 



seasons of disruption the months of November to April,, the 

 southern summer press northward as the great Antarctic Bar- 

 rier, the circle of pack ice which at varying latitudes has been the 

 bar to passage of the different exploring expeditions. The special 

 reasons advanced for this construction of the antarctic region are 

 essentially two : (1) The comparatively low summer temperature 

 of the south as compared with that of the arctic regions, an indi- 

 cation of oceanic rather than of continental conditions ; and (2) 

 the irregularity or instability of the pack ice, the front varying in 



