Recent Antarctic Exploration 23 



westerly wind appears to keep it always on the move, and 

 Captain Scott formed the view that the snow which is 

 evaporated probably equals, and may exceed, that which is 

 precipitated, so that the ice-covering is not increasing, and 

 may indeed be diminishing. All the ice and snow on the 

 antarctic continent represents water removed from the southern 

 ocean by the westerly winds. As in other land masses 

 exposed to moist winds, the first high land that the air meets 

 deprives it of the greater part of its moisture. On passing 

 farther inland it contains so little that it has almost none to 

 deposit. As regards the supply of material, the Barrier ice- 

 sheet seems to be more favourably situated than the inland 

 plateau. According to Captain Scott's experience, it is 

 frequently swept by warm snow-laden southerly winds, which 

 must be the return northwards of the upper westerly winds, 

 shown by the smoke from Mount Erebus to be a very constant 

 feature at high levels. 



It is interesting to notice that Mr Ferrar, the geologist 

 of the expedition, has arrived quite independently at the 

 conviction that a covering of ice, so far from being destructive, 

 is an eminently conservative agent as regards the land surface 

 beneath. This conviction was arrived at by the writer many 

 years ago ; but it was due to the contemplation of the far- 

 reaching destruction produced by the warm moist air of 

 equatorial regions on unprotected rock surfaces. 



From all the observations there appears to be no doubt 

 that there has been a great diminution of the icy covering of 

 the land in a period the length of which there are no adequate 

 data to determine ; and it is argued that the climate of 

 Victoria Land must have changed very much in the interval. 

 Those who have had the opportunity of witnessing during 

 their lifetime the enormous removal of ice from the surface of 

 Switzerland without the occurrence, according to meteoro- 

 logical data, of any appreciable change in the climate, will 

 not attach too much importance to this conclusion. 



Captain Scott returned from his great journey to the 

 farthest west on Christmas eve, 1903. During his absence 

 much work had been done in preparing the ship for sea and 

 in attacking the ice with saws. On Jan. 5, 1904, to the 



