THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 49 



rigging in height ; they overhung our ships, whose dimensions seemed 

 ridiculously curtailed. We seem to be traversing the narrow streets 

 of some city of giants. At the foot of these gigantic mountains we 

 perceived vast caverns hollowed by the waves, which were engulfed 

 there with a crashing tumult. The sun darted his oblique rays upon 

 the immense walls of ice, making them look as if they were crystal, and 

 presenting effects of light and shade truly magical and startling. 

 From the summit of these mountains, numerous brooks, fed by the 

 melting ice produced by the summer heat of a January sun in these 

 regions, threw themselves in cascades into the icy sea. Occasionally 

 these icebergs would approach each other so as to conceal the land 

 entirely, and we could only perceive two walls of threatening ice, 

 whose sonorous echoes sent back the word of command of the 

 officers. The corvette which followed the Astrolabe appeared so 

 small, and its masts so slender, that the ship's crew were seized 

 with terror. For nearly an hour we only saw vertical walls of 

 ice." 



Ultimately they reached a vast basin, formed on one side by the 

 chain of floating islands which they had traversed and on the other 

 by high land rising 3,000 and 4,000 feet, rugged and undulating on 

 the surface, but clothed all over with an icy mantle which was 

 rendered dazzlingly imposing in its whiteness by the rays of the sun. 

 The officers could only advance by means of the ship's boats through 

 a labyrinth of icebergs up to a little islet lying opposite to the coast. 

 They landed on this islet ; the French flag was planted, possession 

 was taken of the new territory, and, in proof of possession, some 

 portions of rock were torn from the scarped and denuded cliffs. 

 These rocks were found to be composed of quartz and gneiss. The 

 southern continent, therefore, apparently belongs to the primitive 

 formation, while the northern region belongs in great part to the 

 carboniferous period. According to D'Urville, who surveyed the 

 region of Adelia's Land over an extent of thirty leagues of country, 

 the region is one of death and desolation, without any trace of 

 vegetation. 



A little more to the south the French navigator had a vague 

 vision of the white outlines of the horizon of another land, which he 

 named Cote Claire, or Coast Clear, the existence of which was soon 

 afterwards confirmed by the American expedition under Commodore 

 Wilkes. This officer has explored the southern land on a larger 

 scale than any other navigator ; but he suffered himself to be led into 

 error by the dense fogs of the region, and has laid down coast lines 

 on his map where Sir James Ross subsequently found only open 



