GLACIATION OF THE SOUTH POLAR REGION. 311 



hours at a time.* And yd the con(htioii of things at the South Pole is being 

 constantly appealed to, as rendering the phenomena of the " Glacial epoch " 

 perfectly easy of comprehension. This is perhaps not so erroneous as that 

 which is commonly done by writers on glacial questions, when illustrating 

 their theories by reference to the continental ice of the North Polar regions; 

 because, in this latter case, well ascertained facts are — as a general rule — 

 positively ignored, as must have become evident from what has been set 

 forth in the preceding pages ; while, in regard to the opposite hemisphere, 

 advantage is merely taken of our almost entire ignorance of what really 

 exists there to make positive statements, and to assume that precisely that 

 condition of things which it is theoretically most desirable to have at the 

 South Pole really does prevail in that region. 



In point of fiict, we do not know — even approximately — how much land 

 there is in the southern hemisphere, nor what the topography of that land 

 is, nor how much of it is covered with snow or ice. As already remarked, a 

 few lines will give all the positive inlbrmation we have on these points, 

 which are those of importance to us, from the point of view of our present 

 inquiry. 



It is, of course, in reference to what lies within the Antarctic Circle that 

 this statement is made. That there is extremely little land in the southern 

 hemisphere, as compared with the northern, is a well-known fact, as also that 

 there is almost no land at all between the 40th parallel and the Antarctic 

 Circle. The contrast between this condition and that at the opposite pole is 

 most striking; in the northern hemisphere there is an almost continuous 

 mass of land around the globe in the very region where in the southern all 

 is water. 



There are some islands in low southern latitudes north of the Antarctic 

 Circle, and the difference between their climatic condition and that of the 

 land in corresponding latitudes north of the equator is indeed most remark- 

 able. High latitude and extremely low mean temperature do not seem to 

 render the northern hemisphere uninhabitable, for there is hardly any land 

 there entirely unoccupied by man, the Esquimaux ranging as high as 78". 

 On the opposite of the equator the inhabiti'd land having the highest lati- 



* The Wilkes Expedition never set foot on the land during their Antarctic discovery cruise. Sir .1. C. Ross 

 landed — for a few hours, apparently — on Franklin Island, in latitude 76° 8', and on Possession Island, latitude 

 71° 56', both oflf the coast of Victoria Land; no other landings were made by this party. The French expedition, 

 under D'Urville, also made one landing on a small island close to Adelie Land, and remained there for a part of a 

 dav. 



