THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 285 



around the base of the mountain ranges ; or (ii.), 

 inland seas upon which the valleys debouch ; or (iii., 

 and lastly), open sea, in which the mountain ranges 

 form islands or pinnacles complicated in figure. It is 

 clear that only the third of these formations corre- 

 sponds to the conditions indicated by the Antarctic 

 icebergs. There must be a communication between 

 Antarctic seas and the mountain-slopes of Antarctic 

 lands, and this communication must be by long and 

 deep valleys, descending to fiords, bays, and gulfs. It 

 is thus as certain as such a matter can be until the eye 

 of man has actually rested on these regions, that the 

 Antarctic shores are extremely irregular ; and it seems 

 altogether more probable that the land-masses of 

 Antarctic regions consist of a number of large islands 

 like those in the seas to the north of America, than 

 that there is a great continental region, broken along 

 its border, like the Scandinavian peninsula, into bays 

 and fiords. 



But strangely enough, Captain Maury actually 

 recognises the necessity for a suitable region within 

 which the icebergs are to be formed, but seems to feel 

 bound (by the opinion of geographers respecting the 

 unknown Antarctic regions) to reconcile the existence 

 of such a region with the theory of a great Antarctic 

 continent. c Fiords, deep bays, and capacious gulfs 

 loom up,' he tells us, ' before the imagination, 

 reminding us to ask the question, Is there not 

 embosomed in the Antarctic continent a Mediterranean, 

 the shores of which are favourable to the growth and 



