198 



A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER.' 



The ridges north and south of the broad valley look at first 

 glance as if they might be moraines, but their main structure is 

 rock, in its original position, though covered mostly by talus. A 

 similar ridge to the south of the great fjord, Eoyal Sound, has 

 likewise very much the appearance of a moraine ; but here also 

 the main constituent is volcanic rock in situ. There is nowhere 

 to be seen a free-standing ridge composed entirely of moraine 

 matter; but about the flat-topped hills, just described, there 

 are beds of sand and stones that may represent broken-down 

 remains of moraines. 



Eesting on the rounded surfaces of the flat-topped hills, and 

 scattered over them in all directions, are immense quantities of 

 stones of all sizes. The stones have all their angles sharp and 



1CEBORNE ROCKS RESTING ON GLACIATED SURFACES, NEAR 

 BETSY COVE, KERGUELEN'S LAND. 



unweathered, and they rest in all sorts of positions on the 

 smoothed rock, and they have most evidently been dropped into 

 their present position by ice floating over the glaciated surfaces 

 when these were in a submerged condition. 



The summits of the flat-topped hills are formed of caps of 

 basalt, showing usually columnar structure in their cliff faces. 

 These caps of basalt of the several hills appear, undoubtedly, to 

 have formed at one time a continuous sheet. 



Exactly similar flat-topped hills occur everywhere about in 

 Kerguelen's Land, and notably in Eoyal Sound, which is a deep 

 and grand fjord studded all over with numerous rocky islets, 

 probably 100 or more in number. These islets are all flat- 

 topped with erratics on their upper surfaces, and they appear 

 to increase gradually in height towards the head of the Sound. 

 The hills are of the same constitution as those about Betsy 



