126 



PLATE LXIV. THE GREAT ICE BARRIER 



FIG. 1 (Map A). From a photograph by E. H. SHACKLKTON (Sh. 13, }~plate), 

 Feb. 2, 1902. 



FIG. 2 (Map A). From a photograph by R. W. SKELTON (Sk. 89, ^-plate), Feb. 4, 

 1902. 



Two extremes of the Great Barrier ice-cliff are here contrasted : in Fig. 1, the 

 highest portion that was observed, far to the eastern end, measuring 280 feet in 

 height from the water ; and in Fig. 2, almost the lowest, measuring about 18 

 feet, and even to water-level close by, in Balloon Inlet. Had it been possible to 

 photograph the ' Discovery ' close in under the highest ice-cliff, the truck of her 

 mainmast, being 97 feet above the water and 112 feet above the keel, would have 

 equalled a third only of the whole cliff's height. 



Three times the height of the vessel in Fig. 2, gives some idea of the magnitude 

 of the cliff in Fig. 1. 



The Great Barrier sheet moves northward at the rate of 45 yards per month ; 

 but, notwithstanding this, the sea-face is now on an average 10 to 15 miles 

 farther S. than it was some sixty years ago, showing how still more rapid is its 

 recession by breaking up, than is its advance by propulsion from the S. 



Scott, Voyage of the 'Discovery,' vol. ii., pp. 300, 415, 416, 422, 428; Ferrar, 

 Nat. Hist. Rep., vol. i., pp. 68, 82, 84. 



