288 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Mar. 



aspect of the land much resembled that of Coulman Island, 

 but the glaciation was much heavier. High, precipitous, dark 

 cliffs were capped by the sharp edge of the ice-cap, which 

 undulated smoothly over the lesser slopes, and lay broken and 

 crevassed on the steeper ones ; at places the vast snow-sheet 

 descended to the sea, and spread out with immense fan-shaped 

 glaciers fringed with high ice-cliffs. These conditions of the 

 coast could be seen clearly, but above the height of 300 or 

 400 feet all was hidden in dense stratus cloud. 



' By noon we were abreast of this forbidding land ; the 

 clouds showed signs of lifting, but still enveloped the summit 

 of the island. The coast was less than two miles from us, so 

 that we could see each detail clearly, and twice, as we passed, 

 an immense mass of neve became detached from the cliffs and 

 fell with a huge splash into the sea. As I write we are standing 

 to the west of the island, and, to our astonishment, with a clear 

 sea. Once more we are treading untrodden paths. But 

 before we turn our thoughts to the west we are puzzling over 

 the question as to what this island and others we can dimly 

 see to the north really are. We are about the latitude of the 

 Russell Islands, yet we cannot follow Ross's description of 

 them, nor can we understand where the Balleny Group lies. 

 One thing is certain, however : whatever these islands may be, 

 no one has ever seen them from this side before, and the sight 

 of a clear sea to the west is most encouraging.' 



It is as well perhaps to explain the dilemma we found 

 ourselves in with regard to these islands. In 1839 Balleny 

 discovered a group of islands in this region, but whilst the 

 position of his ship was most carefully reckoned and the 

 bearings of the land masses taken, he did not supply sufficient 

 data accurately to fix the position of the various islands which 

 he named. Three years later, Ross, when some way to the 

 eastward of this position, saw land which he imagined must be 

 to the southward of Balleny's discoveries ; from the great 

 distance at which he saw it he believed it to be divided into 

 three distinct masses, and under this impression named them 

 the Russell Islands, We came to this region, therefore, with 



