GLACIATION OF THE SOUTH POLAR REGION. 315 



remarked that a large berg which had been an object of observation before, 

 had disappeared, or rather had turned over unperceived by ns, and presented 

 a new surface, covered witli eartli and stones, so exactly like an island that 

 nothine but landing on it could have convinced us to the contrarv had not 

 its appearance been so satisfactorily explained ; and. moreover, on more care- 

 ful observation a slight rolling motion was still perceptible I was 



verv desirous to find a harbor in which to secure the ships, .... and for 

 this purpose I had examined every indentation of the coast that presented 

 itself. These were, however, all filled with drifted snow from the mountains, 

 and formed a mass of ice several hundred feet thick ; and thus we found it 

 impossible to enter any of the valleys or breaks in the coasts where harbours 

 in other lands usually occur."* 



"The form of Mount Melbourne [latitude 74° 15'] had so general and 

 striking a resemblance to Mount ^tna, that for distinction's sake it went by 

 that name for several days amongst the officers of both ships ; but its eleva- 

 tion must be ver}' much greater than that of the Sicilian mountain. The 

 land ice, althougli not more than five or six feet above the surfoce, and 

 therefore probably not more than forty feet in thickness, blends so imper- 

 ceptibly with the snow which descends from the mountains at this part and 

 extends far into the sea, that it was almost impossible to form any idea of 

 the exact position of the coast line; thus from the edge of the land ice, it 

 seemed at no great distance from its margin gradually to ascend until it 

 reached the summits of the highest mountains." t. 



"As we approached the land [just north of two active volcanoes named 

 Terror. 10.900 feet in height, and Erebus, 12,400 feet] we perceived a low 

 white line extending from its extreme eastern point as far as the eye could 

 discern to the eastward. It presented an extraordinary appearance, gradu- 

 ally increasing in height as we got nearer to it, and proving at length to be 

 a perpendicular cliff' of ice, between 150 and 200 feet above the level of the 

 sea, perfectly flat and level at the top, and without any fissures or promon- 

 tories on its even seaward face. What was beyond it we could not imagine ; 

 for being much higher than our mast-head, we could not see anything ex- 

 cept the summit of a lofty range of mountains extending to the southward 

 as far as the seventy-ninth degree of latitude. These mountains, being the 

 southernmo.st land hitherto discovered, I felt great satisfaction in naming 



* I. c, Vol. I. pp. 195, 196. 

 t 1. c, Vol. I. pp. 205, 206. 



