2 CARL SKOTTSBERG, (Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 



Finally, in April and May 1909, I went to South Georgia once more, thanks to 

 the generosity of the Compania Argentina de Pesca in Buenos Aires, who gave me 

 and my companion, Dr. P. D. CjUENSEL, a free passage in one of their steamers as 

 well as a free stay on their whaling station in Pot Harbour (Grytviken), Cumberland 

 Bay. Here I especially want to offer my thanks the manager, my friend Captain 

 C. A. LARSEN. He did indeed all he could to promote success and it was certainly 

 not his fault that I mostly had to occupy myself with marine algae — for two 

 days after our arrival winter set in in earnest and all the land was covered with 

 snow. I also visited Bay of Isles, but could only ascertain that the vegetation 

 seems to be quite identical with that found in Cumberland or Royal Bay, and make 

 some observations on the flora of the steep coastal cliffs, where but little snow lay. 



I went to South Georgia with the firm intention of surveying the south-west 

 coast. I had a small convenient steamer at my disposal, but the dreadful weather 

 made all our efforts fruitless. No botanist ever set his foot on that side of the is- 

 land. All we know from the descriptions of BELLINGSHAUSEN, KLUTSCHAK and 

 Larsen is that it has a much more barren aspect than the lee side, that the gla- 

 ciers extend over much greater areas etc. It would certainly be of interest to 

 compare the two sides of the island from a botanical point of view, but in my 

 description I had to confine myself to the east coast. 1 



II. Geographical remarks. 



South Georgia (Fig. 1) lies isolated in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, 

 within the limit of the drift of Antarctic ice-bergs, and extends between 54' and 55° 

 S. Lat. and 35" 50' — 38° 10' W. Long., running NW — SE with a length of 165 — 170 

 km. Its breadth varies considerably, reaching its maximum, about 40 km, on the two 

 sides of Cumberland Bay. The NE coast is much indented, several inlets running 

 many kilometres into the land and giving the general impression of fjords; the 

 largest of them all is the »twin-fjord» Cumberland Bay. The north part of the S\V 

 coast has the same configuration; some inlets run so far into the land from both sides 

 that they are separated only by narrow istmuses. Otherwise the SW side is less broken. 



The island gives a strong impression of being a part of a mountain-chain, one 

 of the broken links of the »Antarctandes», rising abruptly out of the ocean, a very 

 broken crest of considerable height with numerous steep peaks of which at least Mt 

 Paget reaches 2000 m. It is to be regretted, that we have no exact knowledge of the 

 topography, save for the immediate surroundings of Royal Bay and Cumberland Bay. 



1 Since this was written there has appeared a short description of some unknown harbours on the 

 south-west side, in Geogr. Journal 1912. In some places in the western half of that coast, there seems to 

 be quite as large plant-covered areas as on the east coast. 



