334 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Appx. 



granite which overlies it, but numerous dykes of both grey and 

 pink granite form a network over the face of the cliff. The clift 

 of gneiss is covered by the ice on the west side, and is cut off 

 suddenly on the east by a tongue of granite ; and occasionally 

 quite isolated patches and wisps of gneiss may be observed in the 

 middle of a mass of this granite. The gneiss as a whole is dark 

 in colour, being composed of thin laminas, usually under a quarter 

 of an inch thick, in which light and dark minerals are alternately 

 dominant. 



The Granites. 



Numerous fragments of granite rocks have been recorded from 

 the Ross Sea area, but up to the time of the departure of the 

 'Discovery' Expedition nothing is recorded as to the occurrence 

 in situ of this type of rock. Granites are very abundant in all the 

 moraines from Cape Adare to Cape Crozier, and therefore must 

 have a very wide distribution. 



The first locality where this type of rock was found in place is 

 in latitude 'j']'^ S., at the entrance to the so-called Granite Harbour. 

 Here a prominent headland, two miles long and some 500 feet 

 high, proved to be composed entirely of granite, and no other rock 

 in contact with it was examined during the short time spent ashore 

 here. The massif consists of an ordinary grey granite in which 

 occur basic dykes and segregation veins. These segregation veins 

 as a rule consist of a coarse-grained variety of granite with large 

 pink idiomorphic crystals of feldspar. They are usually vertical and 

 about ten yards wide, and shade off almost gradually on each side 

 into the ordinary grey rock. It is noteworthy that the change from 

 grey to pink is not quite gradual, but takes place in stages repre- 

 sented by bands a foot or so across, which is suggestive of a com- 

 posite dyke. These bands become successively coarser and pinker 

 from the edges towards the centre, and are separated from one 

 another by smooth vertical joints. Schistose, gneissic, and various 

 hypabyssal rocks, as well as the ordinary dolerites and sandstones, 

 occur as boulders on the narrow beach at the foot of this hill. 



Between the Royal Society Range and the foothills several 

 isolated knolls of granite occur, but they are almost completely 

 buried in snow. 



At a height of 5,500 feet Mr. Skelton collected a grey granite 

 in which schistose veins had been developed dipping towards the 

 south. Again, at a height of 4,000 feet, he collected a somewhat 



