D 
CARL SKOTTSBERG, (Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 
Finally, in April and May 1909, I went to South Georgia once more, thanks to 
the generosity of the Compafia Argentina de Pesca in Buenos Aires, who gave me 
and my companion, Dr. P. D. QUENSEL, a free passage in one of their steamers as 
well as a free stay on their whaling station in Pot Harbour (Grytviken), Cumberland 
Bay. Here I especially want to offer my thanks the manager, my friend Captain 
C. A. LARSEN. He did indeed all he could to promote success and it was certainly 
not his fault that I mostly had to occupy myself with marine algae — for two 
days after our arrival winter set in in earnest and all the land was covered with 
snow. I also visited Bay of Isles, but could only ascertain that the vegetation 
seems to be quite identical with that found in Cumberland or Royal Bay, and make 
some observations on the flora of the steep coastal cliffs, where but little snow lay. 
I went to South Georgia with the firm intention of surveying the south-west 
coast. I had a small convenient steamer at my disposal, but the dreadful weather 
made all our efforts fruitless. No botanist ever set his foot on that side of the is- 
land. All we know from the descriptions of BELLINGSHAUSEN, KLUTSCHAK and 
LARSEN is that it has a much more barren aspect than the lee side, that the gla- 
ciers extend over much greater areas etc. It would certainly be of interest to 
compare the two sides of the island from a botanical point of view, but in my 
description I had to confine myself to the east coast.‘ 
II. Geographical remarks. 
South Georgia (Fig. ı) lies isolated in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, 
within the limit of the drift of Antarctic ice-bergs, and extends between 54° and 55° 
S. Lat. and 35° 50'’—38° 10° W. Long., running NW-—-SE with a length of 165—170 
km. Its breadth varies considerably, reaching its maximum, about 40 km, on the two 
sides of Cumberland Bay. The NE coast is much indented, several inlets running 
many kilometres into the land and giving the general impression of fjords; the 
largest of them all is the »twin-fjord» Cumberland Bay. The north part of the SW 
coast has the same configuration; some inlets run so far into the land from both sides 
that they are separated only by narrow istmuses. Otherwise the SW side is less broken. 
The island gives a strong impression of being a part of a mountain-chain, one 
of the broken links of the »Antarctandes», rising abruptly out of the ocean, a very 
broken crest of considerable height with numerous steep peaks of which at least Mt 
Paget reaches 2000 m. It is to be regretted, that we have no exact knowledge of the 
topography, save for the immediate surroundings of Royal Bay and Cumberland Bay. 
" Since this was written there has appeared a short description of some unknown harbours on the 
south-west side, in Geogr. Journal 1912. In some places in the western half of that coast, there seems to 
be quite as large plant-covered areas as on the east coast. 
