3o8 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' 



the latitude of 78° it is comparatively uniform in altitude ; 

 while, beyond this, the evidences which I have briefly sketched 

 serve to increase the impression of its vastness, and to indicate 

 that it maintains an approximately uniform level over the 

 whole continent. Whether we accept what our imagination 

 must suggest or pause at the actual facts which have been dis- 

 covered, this great ice-sheet is unique ; it has no parallel in 

 the world, and its discovery must be looked upon as a notable 

 geographical fact. 



Glaciers. — There are innumerable glaciers on the coast of 

 Victoria Land, but the great majority merely discharge local 

 neve fields lying in the coastal valleys ; very few run back to 

 the inland ice, and these may be divided into two classes — the 

 living and the dead. In the long stretch of coast between 

 Cape Adare and Mount Longstaff, over 11° of latitude, there 

 appear to be only four living ice-discharges from the interior. 

 The first falls into Lady Newnes Bay, the second into the ice- 

 river in 75° S. to which I have referred, whilst the Barne and 

 Shackleton Inlets form channels for the other two. The 

 Skelton and Mulock Inlets may also actively discharge from the 

 inland ice, but this is very doubtful. From observations which I 

 have mentioned one must gather that the movement of the most 

 northerly of these discharges is very slow, but, judging by the 

 movement of the Barrier, the southern ones are more active. 



The Ferrar Glacier is typical of the dead glaciers ; the ice 

 lies in the valley practically stationary and gradually wasting 

 away from the summer thawing, so that to all intents and pur- 

 poses it is a dead limb. The most conclusive proof of the 

 stagnant condition of the ice in this region was afforded by the 

 north arm of this glacier; the reader will remember that I 

 descended this to find that the ice-stream ended in the tamest 

 manner far from the sea. All these evidences, and many others 

 which space will not allow me to mention, lead up to one great 

 fact — namely, that the glaciation of the Antarctic Regions is 

 receding. 



For us in the South the appreciation of this fact and all its 

 consequences served to throw a flood of light on many a knotty 



