THE ANTARCTIC QUESTION MACHAT. 461 



lavas (leiicitic basalts) with gneiss and granite blocks transformed by 

 fusion. Debris of a like origin has been gathered in the neighbor- 

 ing moraines as also in the continental glacier and ice pack in the sea. 

 A very significant illustration from Von Drj^galski's account of the 

 region sliows one of the terminal cliffs of the mountain, formed of 

 recent lava, finely perforated, its structure recalling the Volvic stone. 

 During the second journey a sandstone block was studied. From 

 the summit of th.e cone on which the ascension was made, and also 

 from the balloon, the surface of the continental glacier toward the 

 south looked like a narrow plateau with great regular crevasses in 

 the ice, and mountain profiles were noted, lost in the far east." 

 Von Dr^'galski does not hesitate to believe that the " south polar con- 

 tinent" is there.'' 



VICTORIA LAND AND NEIGHBORING ISLANDS. 



For a general review of lands south of Xew Zealand, the descrip- 

 tion given by J. Ross (1840-41) referring to the high insular vol- 

 canoes of Mount Erebus (3,769 meters) and Mount Terror furnish 

 considerable information. The discoveries made by the Southern 

 Cross and hj Captain Scott's daring exploration have helped in trac- 

 ing a chart of the littoral bordered by islands, stretching toward the 

 l^ole as far as parallel 82° in the vicinity of meridian 160° E. of Paris. 



The photographs brought back by Borchgrevink of the coasts and 

 the valleys discovered on Victoria Land (Cape Adare, etc.) and of 

 Coulman and Erebus islands, according to the chief of the expedition, 

 indicated at once the rough character of the edge of this region, en- 

 tirely volcanic on its surface. But he established the fact that the 

 eruptive forms are caused by a sinking of schists which, according to 

 his description, would extend from Wilkes Land to Erebus Island. 

 Samples of these rocks, not located, were considered as practically 

 identical with the paleozoic soils of Victoria State, from which de- 

 veloped the theory, rather advanced, of an extension of the Australian 

 Plateau to Wilkes Land and of a connection between the volcanic 

 range of Victoria Land and New Zealand. 



The expedition in the Discovery established the contour of the 

 littoral of Victoria Land and of the neighboring islands, and studied 

 all the tracts discovered, the shore cliffs, glacial valleys, fjords and 

 moraines, and mountain summits. The exi^edition disclosed the ex- 

 istence of a chain of coast volcanoes staked out from Cape Adare, by 

 Mount Sabine, Mount Melbourne (2,400 meters), Mount Discovery 

 (3,050 meters), and Mount Markham (lat. 82° 55' S.). The numerous 

 excellent photographs accompanying Captain Scott's description show 



« Von Drygalski : Op. cit., pp. 271, 274, 302, 304. 

 & Ibid. : Pp. 3, 4, 330. 



