422 HISTORY A1STD METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



being split off to fall on the beach, and be melted, or floated off by the tide. The ice splits off 

 along the lines of the longitudinal crevasses and falls in slabs of the whole height of the cliff; a 

 freshly fallen slab, a longitudinal slice of the glacier, was lying on the beach. The fallen ice floats 

 off with the tide. Some stones, which were dredged in 150 fathoms between Kerguelen's Laud 

 and Hoard's Island, were believed by Mr. Buchanan to have been recently dropped by floating ice 

 from Heard's Island. The stones in question were as yet not penetrated by the water. 



" The other glaciers in sight cut the shore-line at right angles, and thus had no terminal 

 moraines, the stones brought down by them being washed away by the sea. Above, the glaciers 

 were covered with snow, which, as one looked higher and higher, was seen to gradually obliterate 

 the crevasses and assume the appearance of a n6ve". The extent of glacier free from snow was 

 very small, the region in which thawing can take place to any considerable extent being confined 

 to a range not far above sea-level. * * * The dirt and stones on the surface of the ice were, as 

 usual, more abundant towards the termination of the glacier and the moraine, but they were not so 

 abundant as usual, and there were no large stones amongst them, nor were such to be seen in the 

 moraine. 



" The harpooner of the Emma Jane, the whaling schooner with which we fell in at Kergue- 

 len's Land, told me that he had always wondered where the stones on the ice came from at all, and 

 no wonder, for Big Ben is usually hidden from view, and the glaciers seem to have nothing above 

 from which the stones might come. Most of the stones, no doubt, reach the surface and see the 

 light only when they are approaching the bottom of the glacier. 



" The terminal moraine showed the usual irregular conical heaping, and marks of recent motion 

 of the stones and earth composing it from the thawing of the ice supporting them, and a small 

 stream running from the glacier-bed cuts its way to the sea through a short arched tunnel in the 

 ice, as so commonly occurs elsewhere. A small cascade poured out of the ice-cliff on to the sea- 

 shore from an aperture about halfway up it. 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. I had 

 never before seen 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 rested on the sandy beach, and were only 

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



" The lateral moraines were of the usual form, with sharp-ridged crest and natural slopes on 

 either side. They formed lines of separation between the contiguous glaciers. They were some* 

 what 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 masses showed out between 

 the ice-cliffs on the shore and had the ends of the moraines resting on them. 



"A stretch of perfectly level black sand, about half a mile in width, forms the head of the bay 

 and intervenes between the glaciers and a promontory of rocky, rising land stretching out north- 

 ward and westward, and forming the other side of the bay. It was on the smooth, sandy beach 

 bounding this plain that we lauded. The surf was not heavy, but we had to drag the boat up at 

 once. In this we were assisted by six wild-looking sealers, who had made their appearance on the 

 rocks as soon as the ship entered the bay, with their rifles in their hands, and had gazed on us with 

 astonishment. The boss said, as we landed, he guessed we were out of our reckoning. They evi- 

 dently thought no one could have come to Heard's Island on purpose who was not in the sealing 

 business. 



" The sandy plain stretches back from the bay as a dreary waste to another small curved 

 beach at the head of another inlet of the sea. Behind this inlet is an irregular rocky mountain 



