472 THE SWEDISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITIOlSr. 



point in 66'^ south, 62 we.st. The accompanyino- rough .slvetcli-nmp, 

 compiled l\y Lieutenant Diise, gives an idea of the general geography 

 of the region rather ditferent from older maps. As a matter of fact, 

 the whole mainland from Louis Philippe Land past King Oscar Land 

 forms a narrow strip of high mountainous land, the continuation of 

 Graham Land. Farther on in the same direction, Joinville Island 

 seems really an archipelago of islands. East of the mainland we find 

 two other island groups, divided by the wide gulf extending between 

 Snow Hill and Ko))ertson Island. 



The northern archipelago is divided from the mainland ])y a broad 

 channel studded with islands. It consists of two groups, divided by 

 Admiralty Sound, with its two islands, Cockburn and Lockyer. 

 Inside of this strait the principal mass of land is divided by a narrow 

 winding channel into two large islands, the largest of which, with 

 Moiait Haddington for its highest point, I propose to call, after its 

 discoverer, James Ross Island. Though in cold summers the ice in 

 those channels and straits does not break up, it is probable that there 

 is in other years much open water. 



Ver\^ different is the aspect of the southern ""archipelago.'' No 

 real islands exist here; even the mildest summer will not melt away 

 the ice so as to allow a boat to come round any of the islands. All 

 visible land consists of nunataks rising' out of a high, extensive mass 

 of ice. Still, 1 believe it is very probable that should once there come 

 a change to a warmer climate, then the ice would be found to rest for 

 a great part in a shallow sea, and not only on the land, forming in 

 reality a connection between the mainland and a group of outlying 

 islands. The mainland, so far as known, is composed of crystalline 

 rocks, mostly granites, and also porphja'ies, and, as shown by Doctor 

 Andersson, though perhaps to a less extent, of folded sedimentary 

 rocks of pre-Cretaceous age. On the contrary, in all parts of the 

 eastern archipelago, j^oung volcanic rocks are in predominance, while 

 granitoid rocks are entirely wanting. What is found is mostly basalt, 

 and to a great extent tufaceous rocks, sometimes belonging to types 

 of great petrographical interest. I need not state that, as a conse- 

 quence of this geological difference, the mountain forms and the whole 

 aspect of the country show very marked contrasts. 



Among the southern nunataks I have only observed volcanic rocks. 

 Besides those, there occurs in the northern region, around our station, 

 another far more interesting series of rocks. Those are the f ossilifer- 

 ous sedimentary rocks, generally sandstones, that are to be found 

 cropping out at the foot of the hills below the volcanic series in most 

 parts of Ross Island, and also on Cockburn Island, and which form 

 the whole of the two large outlying islands, Snow Hill and Seymour 

 islands. The study of those rocks and their fossils will be of great 

 interest for the knowledge of the conditions of those regions in former 



