2 9 o SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 



gradually to 2000 feet over the greater part of the trough. West 

 of this point there is a sudden drop from the Nussbaum Bar (or 

 Riegel) into the next ' bowl ' of the valley. This is filled with 

 moraine material to the depth of several hundred feet, for the 

 drainage of the ' bowl ' is away from the sea to the salty waters 

 of Lake Bonney. The defile previously mentioned is about 1500 

 feet deep, and would seem to be a water-cut gorge denoting an 

 inter-glacial period. 



Lake Bonney is about 3 miles long and is separated into two 

 portions by a granite bar 500 feet high. This also is traversed 

 by a narrow gorge on the northern side of the trough and is a 

 smaller edition of the Nussbaum ' Bar ' or Riegel. Then about 

 y 2 mile farther west we reach the snout of the Taylor Glacier, 

 which appears to be overriding moraine material at its extremity. 

 The surface of the latter rises 600 feet in a very short distance, 

 and is carved into alcoves and gullies by the sun all of these 

 erosion features presenting a steep face to the north and a gently 

 sloping one to the south. The thaw streams on the glacier and 

 in the moraine-filled Dry Valley all flow to the N.E. 



Visitors to Switzerland will recognise how closely this alter- 

 nation of ' gorge,' ' riegel,' and ' bowl ' recalls the classic glacial 

 valley south of the Saint Gothard Tunnel. Moreover, Lake 

 Lucerne owes its cross-like plan to the action of two parallel 

 glaciers one of which overflowed (near the Rigi) into the 

 adjoining valley. The same process is being carried on to-day 

 where the ' apposed ' glaciers of the Ferrar and Taylor valleys 

 are joined in Siamese twin fashion south-east of Knob Head. 



(b) The Koettlitz Glacier cascades over ice falls near Heald 

 Island and reaches sea level while still 20 miles from its snout. 

 This 20 miles of low-level glacier is extremely interesting, for it 

 would appear to be a stagnant area whose chief characteristics 

 are due to the action of thaw waters on an old glacier surface. 

 The pinnacles, bastions, and bergs have been described in the 

 preceding narrative. Here again the drainage is directed diag- 

 onally across the glacier to the north-east. Some movement has 

 taken place, for the edge of uniform glacier sheet on the south 

 is fringed by great bergs which are differently oriented, though 

 all sealed in the extremely ancient water-cut labyrinth of ice 

 which constitutes the north-west portion of the delta. 



Below the scarp of the Royal Society Range is a hinterland 



