442 PEESONALIA ; 1898-1906 



retrocession of the Barrier, in some places as much as twenty 

 or thirty miles since Boss's visit. He remembered the ice 

 reaching the slopes of Mt. Terror, where now stood bare dark 

 cliffs, while the remains of Barrier ice on the shores of the 

 continent go to show that in a recent geological epoch it must 

 have covered the whole of the Boss Sea. He found in Scott's 

 book * an indescribable charm ' ; 'his observations on the 

 great ice sheet are pregnant with new and sound views.' 



To an appreciative letter raising these and other points of 

 critical detail, Captain Scott replied (November 5, 1905) : 



56 Oakley Street, Chelsea Embankment : 

 November 5, 1905. 



My dbae Sir Joseph Hooker, — No criticism of my book, 

 public or private, has pleased me so much as your letter. 

 My reviewers have been kind and in some cases discrimina- 

 ting, but nothing they have said can reward my literary 

 labours so fully as the thought that I have really brought 

 vividly before you those scenes of ice and snow which you 

 once knew so well. 



I can see how carefully you have read, and that you 

 should have done so with appreciation more than repays me 

 for the difficulties and trouble of writing. 



It is very interesting for me to have a written confirma- 

 tion of the verbal account you gave me of the condition of 

 C. Crozier at your visit. I have thought a good deal on this 

 matter, and cannot bring myself to believe that any great 

 thickness of ice can have disappeared in so comparatively 

 short a time. It is possible that during your visit a heavy 

 summer snowfall may have temporarily covered the bare 

 land shown on the photograph, page 164, and thus the appear- 

 ance of a complete ice-cap may have been given. You will 

 see from the photograph what a large tract of uncovered 

 land there is at present. 



As to the retrocession of the Barrier, he wrote : 



It is ridiculous of course to suppose that Boss's latitudes 

 can have been in fault. One of the most satisfactory points 

 in connection with the proof of the retrocession of the 

 Barrier edge is that the evidence rests on Sights for latitude. 

 Had there been a question of longitude one might reasonably 



