:]7- ) THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



recent motion of the stones and earth composing it, due to the thawing of the ice 

 supporting them ; a small stream running from the glacier-bed cut its way to the 

 sea through a short arched tunnel in the ice, as so commonly occurs elsewhere. A 

 small cascade poured out of an aperture about half-way up the ice-cliff on to the 

 sea shore. The lateral moraines were of the usual form, with sharp ridged crests and 

 natural slopes on either side, and formed lines of separation between the contiguous 

 glaciers. They were somewhat serpentine in course, and two of them were seen to occur 

 immediately above points where the glaciers on either hand were separated by masses of 

 rock in situ, which showed out between the ice-cliffs on the shore and had the ends of 

 the moraines resting on them. All the moraines showed evidence of the present shrinking 

 of the glaciers. 



The view along the shore of the successive terminations of the glaciers was very fine, 

 a coast line composed of cliffs and headlands of ice. None of the glaciers came actually 

 down into the sea, the bases of their cliffs resting on the sandy beach, and only just 

 washed by the waves at high water or during gales of wind. 



Captain Nares, accompanied by Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Moseley, effected a landing on 

 a smooth sandy beach bounding a sandy plain, being helped by six dirty-looking sealers 

 who had made their appearance on the rocks, rifle in hand, as soon as the ship entered 

 the bay, and had gazed on her with astonishment. The " boss " said, " I guess you 

 are out of your reckoning," and they evidently thought no one could have come to 

 Heard Island on purpose who was not in the sealing business. 



The island here is very narrow, not more than a mile broad, and the sandy plain 

 stretches from sea to sea ; in fact, it forms the heads of three bays, namely, Corinthian 

 Bay facing to the northeast, West Bay, and Atlas Cove. The connection of the two 

 promontories with the main island by means of this sandy plain is so low that a 

 depression of a few feet would suffice to separate them from each other and from 

 the mainland. The sand is very dark-coloured and highly magnetic, and was being 

 blown with such violence by the southwest wind then prevailing, that it was necessary, 

 when exposed to it, to use some protection for the face. Nowhere can the abrading 

 power of blown sand be better seen than on the isolated rocks which have rolled down 

 from the heights above and remained fixed in the sandy plain, exposed to the constant 

 strong southwesterly gales, driving the sharp volcanic sand against their sides. In this 

 way they have frequently been cut and dressed as by a mason's chisel (see fig. 13G). 

 It is, however, not the southwesterly winds alone which produce this effect ; but from their 

 great predominance they have given the rocks the peculiar "sheared" appearance, much 

 resembling that assumed by the trees growing on a coast exposed to the trade winds. 

 If favourably placed rocks be carefully examined, the effect of every prevalent wind will 

 be observed in the facets which it has produced on the surface. The largest facet, and 

 the one which determines the general appearance of the rock, is the one turned towards 



