1 84 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [May 



The Rhine Valley — The gorgeous scenery from Mainz down 

 due to infantile form in recently elevated region. 



The Russian Plains — Examples of ' senility.' 



Greater complexity in the Blue Mountains — these are un- 

 doubted earth folds; the Nepean River flows through an off- 

 shoot of a fold, the valley being made as the fold was elevated 

 — curious valleys made by erosion of hard rock overlying soft. 



River piracy — Domestic, the short circuiting of a meander, 

 such as at Coo in the Ardennes; Foreign, such as Shoalhaven 

 River, Australia — stream has captured river. 



Landslips have caused the isolation of Lake George and 

 altered the watershed of the whole country to the south. 



Later on Taylor will deal with the effects of ice and lead 

 us to the formation of the scenery of our own region, and so 

 we shall have much to discuss. 



Sunday, May 7. — Daylight now is very short. One won- 

 ders why the Hut Point party does not come. Bowers and 

 Cherry-Garrard have set up a thermometer screen containing 

 maximum thermometers and thermographs on the sea floe about 

 %' N.W. of the hut. Another smaller one is to go on top of 

 the Ramp. They took the screen out on one of Day's bicycle 

 wheel carriages and found it ran very easily over the salty ice 

 where the sledges give so much trouble. This vehicle is not 

 easily turned, but may be very useful before there is much 

 snowfall. 



Yesterday a balloon was sent up and reached a very good 

 height (probably 2 to 3 miles) before the instrument disen- 

 gaged; the balloon went almost straight up and the silk fell 

 in festoons over the rocky part of the Cape, affording a very 

 difl'icult clue to follow; but whilst Bowers was following it, 

 Atkinson observed the instrument fall a few hundred yards out 

 on the Bay — it was recovered and gives the first important record 

 of upper air temperature. 



Atkinson and Crean put out the fish trap In about 3 fathoms 

 of water off the west beach; both yesterday morning and yes- 

 terday evening when the trap was raised it contained over forty 

 fish, whilst this morning and this evening the catches in the 

 same spot have been from twenty to twenty-five. We had fish 

 for breakfast this morning, but an even more satisfactory result 

 of the catches has been revealed by Atkinson's microscope. He 



