DEBATE ON BARRIER PROBLEMS 283 
3 
There seems to be a descent from gooo feet at the Pole to 
2000 near the edge, and then a rapid fall at the sea-line. 
We may surmise 50 to 100 yards movement per annum across 
the edge of the Plateau, with a thickness of 700 or 800 feet; but 
all this is merely a fine effort of the imagination! 
The ice cliffs all round the continent seem much the same. 
The depths over the shelf at the edge seem of about the same 
order also. 
We must remember that the new set of facts of the Great 
Plateau bounded by the new range of mountains was never 
thought of before 1903, and is not fully digested yet. 
I believe that the snowfall increases towards the fringe of 
the plateau sheet. 
These facts suffice to account for the outflow of Antarctic 
bergs. In latitudes 66° S. and 73° S. we find the same thickness 
of the ice cliffs. It must, however, be admitted that much of this 
theorising is very weak. 
Finally, with regard to the question of the high continental 
plateau and the land under the ice sheet, I will ask the Physiog- 
rapher to descant. 
DISCUSSION 
As usual, Captain Scott called on the members in the order 
in which they sat at the table. 
Oates commented on the difficulty of detecting differences in 
the Barrier level. He often saw herds of cattle on the ice sur- 
face which turned out to be débris of previous camps. 
Wilson said that if the outward movement was due to a flat- 
tening of the Barrier mass, then he would expect the great 
Shackleton Inlet trench to fill up. 
Wright suggested that it was aground before the great lateral 
trench was reached. 
Taylor drew attention to the great amount of surface-sculp- 
turing due, not to pressure, but to thaw waters and direct sun- 
melting. Some of the shallow crevasses might be due to this and 
not to movement or pressure—as on Butter Point. 
If the Ferrar Tongue had grown since Captain Scott’s visit, 
then these Antarctic glaciers were by no means sluggish. Might 
not the slope apparent at the edge of the Barrier be due to the 
greater weathering at the edge, due to the presence of warm 
