CHAPTER XXXVI. 



WONDERS OF THE ANTARCTIC WORLD. 



Many interesting facts were gleaned by the Shackleton expedition to the 

 Antarctic. The South Pole is situated on an Antarctic continent, somewhat 

 larger than Australia, with an area of 4,000,000 square miles. True, it is al- 

 most entirely covered with ice, but the surface of the ice in most parts appears 

 to be comparatively smooth, so that sledges can make good going over it. 



The Pole is on a tableland about 10,000 feet in height. The glaciers of the 

 Antarctic regions are of stupendous size, many of them incomparably larger 

 than the largest Arctic glaciers. 



The Great Ice Barrier is an Antarctic glacier 700 miles wide and hundreds 

 of miles broad in places. At its northern edge it presents a continuous wall of 

 ice, in some places 300 feet in height and seldom less than 100 feet. It ex- 

 tends across Ross Sea from King Edward VIFs Land to McMurdo Strait, 

 and is at least the size of France in area. The breaking off of portions of the 

 northern edge in summer produces the greatest crop of icebergs in the world. 



In no other part of the world do frost and fire hold such divided sway. 

 On the mainland of Antarctica there are numerous volcanoes, at least one of 

 which. Mount Erebus, is active. One of the strangest things about Antarctica 

 is that many of its mountains are built partly of snow — that is to say, with 

 layers of snow between strata of lava and ashes. The ashes thrown out by the 

 volcanoes fall cold, and form a sort of cake which is an excellent non-conductor 

 of heat. Then molten lava flows over the crust of ashes without melting the 

 snow beneath, and in this way glaciers are actually sealed up under layers of 



rock. 



Mount Erebus lies within sight of Cape Royds, now the favorite ship head- 

 quarters of Antarctic explorers. It was discovered by Sir James Clark Ross, 

 who led a famous expedition to the Antarctic regions in 1843. The ascent of 

 Mount Erebus to its summit was regarded as almost impossible, but this was 

 one of the first feats accomplished by Shackleton's expedition. 



Six men made the ascent. On the third day, at an altitude of 8,700 feet, 

 they were caught in a blizzard so terrific that it blew the gloves off one of the 



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