ANTARCTIC VOYAGE OF THE BELGICA. 379 



survey work, the Belgica being moved from place to place in order 

 that all the details of the coast might be seen from near at hand; Dr. 

 Cook was constantly at work taking photographs; Racovitza took 

 notes on the animals and plants which he managed to collect; while I 

 took every opportunity of landing to collect specimens of the rocks 

 and stud} r the glaciers of this region, besides taking numerous photo- 

 graphs. 



I will not dwell in detail on our zigzag course through Belgica Strait. 

 The chart constructed by Captain Lecointe gives au idea of the work 

 accomplished during the three weeks devoted by the expedition to 

 cartography. The important point which is brought out by Lecointe's 

 map is that the east coast of the strait traversed by us is perfectly con- 

 tinuous, and that its contours display the characteristic features of a 

 region of fiords. Toward the south this land (named by us Danco 

 Land, in memory of Lieut. Emile Danco, who died during the course 

 of the expedition) is connected with Graham Land, the northern 

 extremity of which was likewise explored by us. Toward the north, 

 on the contrary, the continental coast line was not traced by the expe- 

 dition, for this would have necessitated retracing our steps, whereas, 

 the season being already far advanced, we had to continue our onward 

 voyage to the south. But as the inland ice rises to a very consider- 

 able height east of Hughes Inlet, I have been led to believe that 

 land must reach in that direction as far as Louis Philippe Land. It 

 therefore seems likely to me that the coast line is continuous to that 

 point, and that Louis Philippe Land is in reality the northern termi- 

 nation of Graham Land, and that the "New Greenland' 1 of the first 

 explorers of this region is not a phantasm. The large islands situated 

 to the west of Belgica Strait form an archipelago, which has been 

 named Palmer Archipelago, in order to give a place on the maps to 

 the name of this intrepid American navigator. 



The antarctic lands which we visited are very mountainous, and the 

 mountains reach to the shores almost everywhere. The region of Bel- 

 gica Channel bears the characters of a depressed area, so much so that 

 in spite of one's self one is driven to the conclusion that the whole 

 block has sunk into the sea, under the pressure produced by the accu- 

 mulation of ice, to a depth sufficient to restore equilibrium. By rea- 

 son of this ice, which seems to be piled up in quantities almost as great 

 as the extent of the lands permits, the relief of the ground is almost 

 completely masked. Still there are valleys blocked by immense streams 

 of ice, and in these valle3 r s there must be sills, since ice falls are to be 

 seen here and there. Cirques too occur; so that we find all the forms 

 characteristic of fluviatile erosion, and 1 feel no doubt at all that before 

 the Glacial epoch this region was clear of ice, and that the traces of 

 relief noticed were produced by running water. This relief can, how- 

 ever, be only guessed at, at the present day, for the eternal snows have 

 accumulated everywhere, and it is only by the directions of the glaciers 



