ABA REPORT—1905. 
possible. Beyond the fact that exploring expeditions of this character keep 
alive the spirit of enterprise and bring out the finest characteristics of a race— 
which is a point by no means to be despised—no immediate practical benefit was 
to be expected. 
Progress under the conditions must be slow, but I think that Great Britain 
may well be satisfied with the information collected in the Antarctic by Captain 
R. F. Scott and his gallant companions. The unfortunate detention of the 
‘ Discovery’ by an unfavourable summer prevented the further coastal exploration 
which was part of the programme, but gave opportunity for further detailed 
examination of the inland conditions, which was carried out in defiance of the 
severest atmospheric and topographical difficulties, and with the greatest zeal and 
intelligence; and it may be doubted whether Science in the end has not gained 
more than she lost by the unexpected diversion of energy. ‘The healthy con- 
ditions which prevailed throughout are a standing proof both of Captain Scott’s 
eminent capacity as a leader and of the cheery spirit which animated the whole 
expedition, 
The full results of the scientific observations are not yet worked out, and in 
many cases for a complete appreciation of their bearing they must be compared 
and correlated with those of the other Antarctic expeditions, but many highly 
suggestive points have already been revealed. 
For the first time Antarctic continental land has been travelled over for long 
distances, and though the actual area of new discovery looks small on a map of 
the world, the distances covered can only be described as extraordinary, and far 
exceeding the most sanguine anticipations. 
Few who considered the mountainous coast-line of Victoria Land and its com- 
plete glaciation, as reported by Sir James Ross from his distant view, thought 
that it would prove practicable not only to ascend those mountains, but to reach 
to heights much surpassing them behind. 
The reason that it proved feasible is that, while there are occasional heavy 
snowstorms, the annual snowfall is small, and the surface, therefore, is generally 
unencumbered with soft deep snow. 
And what did Captain Scott find after his memorable struggle up the glacier 
through the mountains ? 
An enormous plateau at an elevation of about 9,000 feet, nearly level, 
smooth, and featureless, over which he travelled directly inland for over 200 
miles, seeing no sign at his furthest point of any termination or alteration in 
character. So far as could be seen from other journeys, glacial discharge from 
this great ice-sheet is very small, and practically it appears to be dead. Its 
accretion by fresh snowfall is insignificant, while on all sides along the flanks of 
the coastal mountains there are signs of diminution in the mass of ice. 
The great ice-barrier cast of Ross Island tells the same tale. This magnificent 
feature presents to the sea a [ace of perpendicular ice-cliffs varying from 60 to 
240 feet in height and 450 sea-miles long. Sir J. Ross mapped its position in 
1841, and Captain Scott finds that it has retreated on an average fifteen miles, 
varying much in different parts. 
Should this rate of retreat continue the whole of this ice mass, as far as 
Captain Scott saw it, will have vanished in 1,000 years. 
As the motion of the ice mass is also about fifteen miles to the north in the 
same time, icebergs covering collectively an area of 450 miles by 30 have been 
discharged from it in sixty years. 
Captain Scott travelled over it nearly due south to a point 300 miles from its 
face, and then saw no sign of its end. 
It is bordered on its western side by a mountainous coast-line, rising in places 
to 15,000 feet. He found the ice practically flat and wholly unfissured, except at 
the side, where its northerly motion, found to be about 130 feet in the month, caused 
shearing and vast crevasses. All that is known of its eastern edge is that it is 
bordered, where it meets the sea, by land from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high, suspected 
by Ross and verified by Captain Scott. This may be an island, or more probably 
the eastern side of the great fiord or bay now iilled by the barrier, 
