THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 281 



than we do of those of one of the planets.' ' If they be 

 continental,' as he proceeds, 'we may indeed, without any 

 unwarrantable stretch of the imagination, relieve the face 

 of nature there with snow-clad mountains, and diversify 

 the landscape with flaming volcanoes ;' but we must not 

 forget that this is a work of imagination, not a theory 

 which can be insisted upon as though it represented a 

 geographical fact. 



While on this subject, however, we cannot refrain 

 from quoting a very striking passage from a letter by 

 Capt. Howes, of the ' Southern Cross,' because, although 

 it relates in reality to the phenomena of an Aurora 

 Australis, it presents a scene such as we might conceive 

 to accord with the conception of an Antarctic region 

 covered with volcanoes whose combined action made 

 the whole continent at times as one vast furnace. Apart 

 from fancies such as these, the description is full of 

 interest : c At about half-past one,' he says, ' on the 

 second of last September, the rare phenomenon of the 

 Aurora Australis manifested itself in a most magnificent 

 manner. Our ship was off Cape Horn, in a violent gale, 

 plunging furiously into a heavy sea, flooding her decks, 

 and sometimes burying her whole bows beneath the 

 waves. The heavens were as black as death; not a 

 star was to be seen when the brilliant spectacle first 

 appeared. I cannot describe the awful grandeur of the 

 scene; the heavens gradually changed from murky 

 blackness till they became like livid fire, reflecting a 

 lurid, glowing brilliancy over everything. The ocean 

 appeared like a sea of vermilion lashed into fury by 



