344 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Arpx. 



The Land Ice. 



The htland Ice. — By the term inland ice we mean the uniform 

 cloak of ice and snow of unknown extent which covers land of 

 continental dimensions. In South Victoria Land this uniform 

 covering has been met with on the west side of the Royal Society 

 Range at a height of nearly 9,000 feet, and has been traversed by 

 Captain Scott and party for a distance of about 200 miles. The 

 inland ice drains eastwards through very deep and steep-sided 

 valleys, and no nunataks have been observed far from the actual 

 edge of the bare land. The Ferrar Glacier lies in one of these 

 valleys, and it is remarkable that the ice from the hinterland which 

 flows into the North Fork does not reach the sea, but ends in an 

 insignificant chflf some distance from it. No gradual passage 

 from granular snow to compact glacier-ice was observed at the 

 edge of the inland ice ; the granular snow as a rule lies directly 

 upon a corrugated surface of massive blue ice. 



The inlets, which seem to be characteristic of the South 

 Victorian mountain ranges, appear to be best developed south of 

 latitude 79° S. The inland ice drains through these inlets, and 

 augments the Ross Piedmont, or ice-sheet. The Prince Albert 

 Mountains appear to be a fringe of land buttressing a vast interior 

 ice-field. This ice drains into the Ross Sea through channels the 

 breadth of which appears to be greater than the length, and there- 

 fore in form the ice-streams resemble the Greenland glaciers made 

 familiar to us in Dr. Drygalski's work. 



Local Ice-caps. — This type of ice-covering may be described as 

 being continental on a small scale. The covering of snow on Ross 

 Island is a very good example of an Antarctic local ice-cap, and 

 any features exhibited by it may be applied to the mantles of snow 

 upon other isolated land masses. 



On Mount Erebus, as on the mainland, there are streams of 

 ice which drain radially and are separated from one another by 

 nunataks. The streams of ice do not follow definite depressions 

 that could be described as valleys, but descend to the sea in an 

 almost uniform cloak. This cloak is interrupted along the margin 

 of the land by hills of lava which have all the characteristics of 

 nunataks. The streams, which thus become individualised, end in 

 cliffs which vary in height between fifty and 200 feet, and oc- 

 casionally give birth to icebergs. 



Piedmonts. — Large areas of ice which lie at the foot of high 



