110 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



closely in longitude with the island of Rodriguez, the Maldives, and Bombay. The 

 greatest length of the island is about 85 miles, its maximum breadth 79, but its area does 

 not exceed 2,050 square miles. This small extent of area may be understood on taking 

 into account the deep indentations of the coast ; there is perhaps no other place on the 

 globe where the coast-line is so extended compared with the area. Fifteen great 

 peninsulas run out from the main portion of the island, and numerous deep gulfs 

 penetrate it, cutting the coast-line into long narrow fjords. These are similar in all 

 essentials to those of Norway ; they are bounded by cliffs rising perpendicularly, and 

 shutting in an arm of the sea often narrowed at its opening. Royal Sound and Rhodes 

 Bay present classic examples of these extraordinary sinuosities of coast-line. 



The actual island is only the skeleton, one might say, of a great region on which 

 the phenomena of oscillation and denudation have left a profound imprint. The 

 deep-sea soundings in the neighbourhood of the land lead inevitably to this conclusion, 

 as they show the portion above water to be the summit of a great submarine plateau. 

 Sir J. C. Ross got soundings of 70 to 80 fathoms for a distance of over 100 miles to 

 the north-east of Cape Francis ; the Challenger found no depths exceeding 50 or 

 60 fathoms for 45 miles to the north of Cape Digby ; and between Kerguelen and 

 Heard Island the depth ranges between 80 and 150 fathoms. The "Gazelle" obtained 

 125 fathoms 40 miles west of Cape Bligh and also 80 miles north of Swain Island. 

 From the results of soundings, it seems probable that Heard Island is the terminal peak, 

 situated at the southern extremity of the chain of submarine table-lands which connects it 

 with Kerguelen. A glance at the chart also shows that the mountain chains of this land 

 are directed north-west and south-east, and that the lofty summit of Heard Island is 

 260 miles south-east of Mount Ross, the culminating point of the lines of hills which 

 traverse Kerguelen. Taking all these details into account, we must conclude that the 

 two islands belong to the same topographical system, the connecting links being hidden 

 by the waters. The erosion, which has left its traces everywhere ; the glacial phe- 

 nomena, marking their destructive action on the rocks ; the oscillations of the ground, 

 testified abundantly by the strata ; the action of atmospheric agencies, and even 

 biological facts, combine to give support to the view which presents Kerguelen as the 

 relic of a great land. 



A chain of mountains with elevated plateaux traverses Kerguelen from north-west 

 to south-east, and at its southern extremity Mount Ross, the highest peak in the island, 

 rises near the sea. The terraces in the centre, rising to 1500 or 2000 feet, are covered 

 with snow-fields, and glaciers, of less extent now than formerly, are found in several 

 parts of the island. At Mount Richards, for instance, both slopes are covered with 

 them ; here the glaciers come right down to the sea, while at other places they do not 

 reach the water, showing rather a tendency to recede. This is the case at Whale Bay 

 and also at Deutsches Bucht, but on the west coast there are several which come down 



