VOYAGE TO THE BAY 17 
examine its condition. It was found to be in large cakes of 
heavy rafted ice, too solid to penetrate at such a late date. 
Seahorse point is at the junction of the granites and 
gneisses with the Silurian limestones. There is here a marked 
difference between the southern limestone area and the northern 
country, underlain by the crystalline rocks, with its typical 
long, low, rounded hills, lying in roughly parallel ridges, and 
separated by wide shallow valleys, dotted with lakes and ponds, 
or filled with coarse boulder clay, with boulders scattered in 
bewildering profusion everywhere. This land, although high 
by contrast with the limestone country, seldom reaches an 
elevation of 500 feet, and that only far inland. There is one 
conspicuous peak, which rises like a great sugar loaf, far in- 
land, its snow-capped summit of the lightest blue. 
The limestone country occupies all the southern part of 
this great island, and also underlies the large islands of Coats 
and Mansfield farther to the south. The same physical char- 
acteristics prevail wherever the limestone is found. The low 
shores are bounded by gradually deepening water, broken by 
dangerous reefs that extend several miles from the land. The 
country rises very slowly inland, from the shores, in a succes- 
sion of low, broad terraces, each a few feet higher than the one 
in front. These terraces are covered to a depth of several feet 
by broken limestone, which affords perfect drainage, and in 
consequence the surface is so dry that it will not even support 
a covering of the hardy Arctic plants. This absence of vegeta- 
tion leaves the monotonous light-yellow shingle quite unrelieved 
by any dash of other colour, and the general view is one of dry 
desolation, much worse than that of the hilly country. The 
limestone region never reaches an elevation of one hundred 
feet within walking distance of the shore. 
the ship lay-to during the night, among scattered pans of 
ice, about five miles from the land, and in forty fathoms of 
