480 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



The violent blizzards raging on the plateau appear to disprove the supposition 

 that an area of atmospheric calm surrounds the pole. 



The achievements of the expedition are many and varied. Eight mountain 

 chains were discovered, and 100 ihountains surveyed. Many systematic zoo- 

 logical, meteorological, and botanical observations were made by the experts 

 attached to the party. The chief vegetation was in the shape of large sheets 

 of a fungus-like plant in the lakes, many lichens, a few mosses, and seaweed 

 of two kinds. The auroral displays were exceedingly brilliant throughout the 

 winter, one of the most striking forms being a horizontal bar with draped 

 curtains extending across the sky, sometimes stationary, and sometimes moving 

 with great rapidity across the heavens. In his report Lieutenant Shackleton 

 also speaks of " racing cascades of luminescence, which traversed the length of 

 the heavens with remarkable speed." Observations were also made in meteoro- 

 logical optics and atmospheric electricity, together with chemical and physical 

 studies in connection with the freezing of the sea surface. Good moonlight 

 photographs were obtained of the eruption of Mount Erebus. And it was fur- 

 thermore ascertained that most antai'ctic bergs are snow bergs. 



Although little more than the shore line has been explored, it is believed that 

 the antarctic continent is as large as the whole of continental Europe. As a 

 result of this expedition, the entire map of the antarctic regions will have to be 

 changed. The expedition, by endurance and by achievement, ranks with the 

 great north polar explorations. 



