220 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



disposed radially to the centres of the holes and produced by 

 successive night frosts. 



Cones of ice covered with sand, and appearing as if com- 

 posed of sand alone, but astonishing one by their hard and 

 resistant nature when struck with a stick, were also to be seen 

 on the glacier. I have seen closely similar cones in Tyrol; 

 and, when a tyro at alpine climbing, have jarred my hand in 

 attempting to thrust my alpenstock into them. Here the sand 

 was black and volcanic. Small table-stones were not uncommon 

 upon the glacier, and, in fact, all the phenomena caused by 

 thawing from the action of direct radiant heat were present. 



The usual narrow longitudinal lines or cracks caused by the 

 shearing of the ice in its differential motion were present, and 

 gave evidence of the grinding together of the closely opposed 

 surfaces forming them. 



The dirt and stones on the surface of the ice were as usual 

 more abundant towards the termination of the glacier and the 

 moraine, but they were not so abundant as usual, and there 

 were no large stones amongst them, nor were such to be seen 

 in the moraine. 



The harponeer of the " Emma Jane," the whaling schooner 

 with which we fell in at Kerguelen's Land, told me that he had 

 always wondered where the stones on the ice came from at all, 

 and no wonder, for Big Ben is usually hidden from view, and 

 the glaciers seem to have nothing above from which the stones 

 might come. Most of the stones, no doubt, reach the surface 

 and see the light only when they are approaching the bottom of 

 the glacier. 



The terminal moraine showed the usual irregular conical 

 heaping, and marks of recent motion of the stones and earth 

 composing it from the thawing of the ice supporting them, and 

 a small stream running from the glacier-bed cut its way to the 

 sea through a short arched tunnel in the ice, as so commonly 

 occurs elsewhere. A small cascade poured out of the ice-cliff on 

 to the seashore from an aperture about half-way up it. All the 

 moraines showed evidence of the present shrinking of the glaciers. 



The view along the shore of the successive terminations of 

 the glaciers was very fine. I had never before seen a coast-line 



