ICEBERGS 303 



where dust and grit have settled on the surface, little decayed. 

 Its uniform smoothness shows there is very little pressure. 

 The pack-ice met with in the vicinity of King Edward's Land 

 was very heavy also, but the floes were much hummocked and 

 many were evidently more than one season old. It appears 

 probable that a large quantity of pack is detained amongst the 

 numerous grounded bergs and ice-islands in this region, where 

 also the snowfall seems heavier than to the west. The region 

 south of the Balleny Islands will probably always be found 

 heavily packed owing to the constant drift from the 

 Victoria Land coast, but it is evident that the exact position 

 of this pack is uncertain, as although in February 1904 we 

 found it far to the east, Ross at the same season in 1841 

 observed an open sea to the eastward of the 168th meridian. 



The pack-ice is, of course, the main obstruction to explora- 

 tion in the far South. A study of its disposition and move- 

 ment is therefore of great importance to the navigator. Mr. 

 Ferrar has added some interesting notes on the physical pro- 

 perties of sea-ice in his geological summary. 



Icebergs. — The main supply of icebergs in the Ross Sea is 

 from the Barrier and King Edward's Land. The glaciers on 

 the coastline of Victoria Land are in an extraordinary con- 

 dition of stagnation, and nearly all the bergs met with along 

 its coast have undoubtedly come from the east. From Cape 

 Adare to Cape Crozier there are only two ice-flows capable of 

 giving off a clean tabular berg of any dimensions, and our 

 observations went to show that the supply from these is 

 extremely small. In this connection it is instructive to note 

 that the rate at which bergs are given off in various regions 

 can be gauged to some extent by the comparative newness of 

 the exposed faces of the ice-cliffs. As a rule, the cliffs of the 

 Barrier exhibit a smooth uniform face, whereas those on the 

 coast of Victoria Land are honeycombed with the action of 

 the sea and the weather. 



It will be remembered that we found innumerable bergs 

 aground on the shoals off King Edward's Land, and that some 

 were very large. We saw one or two small ones in the act of 



