NA TURE 



[January 25, 1906 



photograph of the ice (vol. i., p. 192) shows that it is 

 very regularly stratified, and there is no visible inter- 

 glacial material; the ice appears very different from 

 that typical of glaciers. A photograph of a block 

 of the barrier ice, of which the structure had been 

 brought out by throwing over ii a bucket or two of 

 hot water, would have been very useful. The 

 characters of glacier ice are so distinctive that any 

 precise information as to the structure of the barrier 

 ice would have left no doubt as to its nature. The 

 photograph (Fig. 1) which gives most information 

 about the ice suggests that, at least the part above 

 sea-level (see also Fig. 2) has been formed by the | 

 accumulation of layers of snow upon the surface, 

 more quickly than the ice was dissolved by the 

 sea beneath. If this view of the origin of the ice 

 sheet be correct, both its horizontal position and the 

 erentle undulations of its surface are intelligible; and 

 it forms no obstacle to belief in the connection of 

 Graham's Land and Victoria Land along the shortest 

 and most direct line. In this case Ross's ice-sheet 

 will agree in character with the floebergs of Sir 

 George Nares's Palasocrystic Sea, except that they 

 were supposed to have grown by the additions of 

 layers of ice from the sea below, instead of by the 

 fall of snow from above. In this connection, some 

 information as to the rate of solution and growth of 

 the ice in sea-water at various temperatures would 

 have been useful. Captain Scott tells us that such 

 observations were suggested in the " Antarctic- 

 Manual." I have been unable to find there the 

 passage referred to. The suggestion is, however, dis- 

 missed (vol. i., p. 305) as ridiculous. More than once 

 during the course of the expedition the observations 

 desired were accidentally noticed, but the conditions 

 are not stated with sufficient precision to be of service. 



The structure of Victoria Land, both geographicallv 

 and geologically, is much as was expected from the 

 considerations which led to the conclusion, first 

 suggested by Ritter, that the eastern coast of Victoria 

 Land represents the continuation of the volcanic line 

 of New Zealand, and that a plateau occurs behind it. 

 The discovery of the plateau structure seems to have 

 occasioned surprise, though the hope was expressed 

 in Nature, April 25, 1901, p. 612, that one party 

 would " cross the volcanic mountain chain to the 

 plateau that probably lies beyond it." The geological 

 structure, as described in Mr. Ferrar's interesting 

 chapter, consists of low-lying archaean coast hills, 

 beyond which occur sheets of horizontal sediments and 

 broad sheets of plateau basalts. . Huge volcanic cones 

 occur off the main coast line, like the worn down 

 volcanic hills of Dunedin and Bank's Peninsula in 

 New Zealand, and apparently there are great volcanic 

 cones on the plateau near it, edge. It would be 

 difficult to find land with a structure more typical of 

 the Pacific coast type. 



In contrast to the extensive discoveries achieved by 

 the sledging parlies from the winter quarters are the 

 limited result, ..la. lined al sea, which make the title 

 ot the boolc, "The Voyage of the Discovery," some- 

 what of a misnomer. In the book 170 pages are de- 

 voted to describing the whole voyage of the Discovery 

 from London to London, and 698 pages to describing 

 the sledging and other work on shore. It was hoped 

 that the Discovery would have thrown some light on 

 the two chief problems offered b) the outline ol 

 Antarctica, in the area reserved for the British sphere 

 of operations. After the discovery of Coals Land bv 

 the Scottish expedition, the longest unknown stretch 

 of the Antarctic coast is that south of the Pacific. 

 It was believed from the work ol Ross and Cook that 

 land exists connecting Graham's Land to that on the 

 eastern edge of the barrier. The Discovery has con- 



NO. 1891, VOL. 73] 



firmed the existence of land close by the point where 

 Ross described his " strong appearance of land "; but 

 the necessity for the whole expedition returning to 

 winter on McMurdo Sound prevented the discovery of 

 its nature. Captain Scott seems disposed to regard 

 this land as probably volcanic, and Mr. Ferrar as 

 probably continental. 



It was also hoped that the expedition would deter- 

 mine the character of the land to the west of Cape 

 Adare; for a section along that coast, which cuts 

 across the grain of the continent, would no doubt 

 give more information as to its structure, than could 

 be obtained along the coast of Victoria Land or by 

 a traverse of the ice-clad interior. But here again 

 the expedition had to return from the threshold of 

 the unknown regions. This was Captain Scott's 

 misfortune, and was in no way his fault. It was the 

 result of the plan of the expedition being to keep 

 the Discovery at the winter quarters. The limited 

 work done by the Discovery at sea, and its 

 inability to accomplish the much desired deep- 

 sea trawling;, is possiblv due to the heavy de- 

 mands on the available coal supplv made by her 

 engines; for the 500 horse-power which they gave 

 required a large consumption of fuel, and this 

 rendered impossible any prolonged period of full 

 steaming away from a coaling station. Whether the 

 Discovery was a complete success as a ship appears 

 doubtful. Captain Scott praises many features in its 

 design, and of its magnificent strength there can be 

 no question. But in spite (vol. ii. p. 327) of what 

 Captain Scott calls the "depth of sentiment " he 

 naturally feels for the ship, " which for long- proved 

 such a comfortable home," he savs that when they 

 tested her sailing qualities they " found to our 

 chagrin that they were exceedingly poor"; she had 

 a line rapacity for rolling, sometimes going over 90 , 

 and he describes (vol. ii. p. 375) her " lurching from 

 side to side in the most uncomfortable fashion while 

 our consort [the Terra Nova] followed in our wake 

 wilh scarcely a movement." Her leakiness is de- 

 scribed as a continual source of trouble, and the only 

 expression of irritation in the book is at " another 

 very stupid arrangement " in the ship (vol. i. p. 330). 

 But for the somewhat meagre results achieved bv the 

 Discovery Captain Scott is not responsible; if the 

 ship could have been kept at work at sea, while 

 Captain Scott was doing his sledge journeys on land, 

 a wider and richer harvest of results would doubtless 

 have been obtained. J. W. Gkegory. 



kECENT ETHNOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS 

 FROM THE FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM.' 



OF peculiar interest is Dr. Dorsey's account of the 

 ceremonial organisation of the Cheyenne, which 

 dates hack, according to tradition, to two or three 

 thousand years ago, being- founded by Motzeyeuff, a 

 prophet who came as a messenger from the Great 

 Medicine with four great medicine arrows, which were 

 sent to the Cheyenne as an emblem for their future, 

 as they possessed magic, and the Great Medicine 

 decreed they should produre effects beyond natural 

 powers. These arrows are still preserved, hut two 

 of them arc- in the hands of the Pawnee. The 

 prophet organised live- societies — the Red Shield, 

 Hoof-rattle, Coyote, Dog-men, and Inverted Bow- 

 string. The Inst two of these are concerned with 



1 Vnth, H. R. ■ "Oraibi Natal Customs and Ceremonies." Field Colum- 

 bian Museum, Chicaeo ioc=. Anthropological Series, vol. vi., No. 2. 

 " Hopi Proper Nanie«," ibid, vol. vi., No. 2. "The Traditions of the 

 Hopi," ibid. vi>l. viii. 



Dorsey, G. A. : "The Cheyenne: 1. Ceremonial Organisation," ibid., 

 vol. ix., No. t. " The Cheyenne : II. The Sun-Dance," ibid., vol. ix. 

 No. 



