290 SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION 
gradually to 2000 feet over the greater part of the trough. West 
of this point there is a sudden drop from the Nussbaum Bar (or 
Riegel) into the next ‘bowl’ of the valley. This is filled with 
moraine material to the depth of several hundred feet, for the 
drainage of the ‘ bowl’ is away from the sea to the salty waters 
of Lake Bonney. The defile previously mentioned is about 1500 
feet deep, and would seem to be a water-cut gorge denoting an 
inter-glacial period. 
Lake Bonney is about 3 miles long and is separated into two 
portions by a granite bar 500 feet high. This also is traversed 
by a narrow gorge on the northern side of the trough and is a 
smaller edition of the Nussbaum ‘ Bar’ or Riegel. Then about 
4% mile farther west we reach the snout of the Taylor Glacier, 
which appears to be overriding moraine material at its extremity. 
The surface of the latter rises 600 feet in a very short distance, 
and is carved into alcoves and gullies by the sun—all of these 
erosion features presenting a steep face to the north and a gently 
sloping one to the south. The thaw streams on the glacier and 
in the moraine-filled Dry Valley all flow to the N.E. 
Visitors to Switzerland will recognise how closely this alter- 
nation of ‘ gorge,’ ‘ riegel,’ and ‘ bowl’ recalls the classic glacial 
valley south of the Saint Gothard Tunnel. Moreover, Lake 
Lucerne owes its cross-like plan to the action of two parallel 
glaciers—one of which overflowed (near the Rigi) into the 
adjoining valley. The same process is being carried on to-day 
where the ‘ apposed’ glaciers of the Ferrar and Taylor valleys 
are joined in Siamese twin fashion south-east of Knob Head. 
(b) The Koetilitz Glacier cascades over ice falls near Heald 
Island and reaches sea level while still 20 miles from its snout. 
This 20 miles of low-level glacier is extremely interesting, for it 
would appear to be a stagnant area whose chief characteristics 
are due to the action of thaw waters on an old glacier surface. 
The pinnacles, bastions, and bergs have been described in the 
preceding narrative. Here again the drainage is directed diag- 
onally across the glacier to the north-east. Some movement has 
taken place, for the edge of uniform glacier sheet on the south 
is fringed by great bergs which are differently oriented, though 
all sealed in the extremely ancient water-cut labyrinth of ice 
which constitutes the north-west portion of the delta. 
Below the scarp of the Royal Society Range is a hinterland 
