474 THE SWEDISH ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



of what I had expected to meet here, an isolated patch — like that in 

 Slog-get Bay — of theTertiaiy formation, with plant fo.ssils and lignite, 

 which is widely distributed in northern Tierra del Fuego, and, in my 

 opinion, more recent than the folding period of the Fuegian cordillera, 

 1 found a strongly folded sedimentary' series, chiefly a conglomerate, 

 with marine shells and trunks of driftwood. The sedimentary beds 

 were traversed by eruptive dikes. Unfortunate!}' nn' collections from 

 this place were lost with the Antarctic. For this reason I can not give 

 any definite opinion as to the age of the sedimentary beds nor the 

 petrological character of the eruptions traversing" them. Moreover, 

 1 have decided to return to Tekenika Bay to survey in detail this 

 locality', as it will evidenth' contribute to deciding the unsettled age 

 of the Fuegian cordillera. 



Late in the evening of November 7 the Antarctic crossed the latitude 

 of Cape Horn to the west of Hermit Island, and in the night of the i>th 

 to loth of the same month, in latitude 59^ 30' south, longitude G6^ west, 

 we passed the first water-worn floes of drift sea ice, the first iceberg 

 having been sighted the previous day. As soon as we had entered the 

 region of drift ice, 1 started regular observations on the frequency and 

 size of sea ice and icebergs. These running observations were carried 

 on by me up to my departure from the ship on December 29, and tifter 

 that they were continued b}^ Mr. Skottsberg. 



On November 11-12 we met the dense pack in latitude 61' south, 

 and only after ten days' hard work did Captain Larsen force a wav to 

 the open coast water outside the South Shetland Islands. Between 

 Smith Island and Snow Island we entered Bransfield Strait, practicalh' 

 free from ice. November 23-24 we visited Deception Island, but 

 found its crater covered by unbroken ice. From here we steered for 

 the eastern end of Livingstone Island, where a short landing was made. 

 During all this time the weather was fine and clear. On the opposite 

 side of the broad strait we distinctl}' sighted the snow- clad plateaus 

 and lofty peaks round the Orleans channel — the old Trinitv Land. 

 But nothing was to be seen of Middle Island, which is marked on the 

 charts as situated in the middle of the strait between McFarlane Sound 

 and Astrolabe Island; on the following day (25th) we crossed the 

 position of the nonexisting island, and here dropped the lead in 800 

 fathoms. On the previous day, in a sounding between Deception and 

 Livingstone islands, in 534 fathoms depth, we had found a remarkabh' 

 low-bottom temperature of 29*^ Fahrenheit. An examination of the 

 intermediate depths at the sounding station of Middle Island, gave 

 the result that Bransfield Strait repeats the typical hydrographical 

 condition of all ice-bearing parts of the ocean — a superficial layer and 

 a deep-water mass, both characterized b}' low temperature, and 

 between them a body of relatively warm water. But this section 

 shows two remarkable features; the intermediate warm current is 



