TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION b. 411 
land. It is not difficult to fall into such errors, but an appreciation of the 
possibility of such errors leads one to wait until further proof is obtained 
before stating that any apparent landfall is actually land. The mirage effects, 
when looking over pack-ice, are sometimes very misleading. ‘There is no time 
to deal in detail with the errors discovered in Wilkes’s charts. Only in one 
place, Adelie Land, did we find land where shown on the American charts. In 
several other places the existence of land was disproved. Elsewhere the ice 
conditions were adverse, so that we were not able to penetrate as far as Wilkes, 
with the result that several of his landfalls still call for confirmation. Though 
Captain Davis was not able to push the ship sufficiently far south to get a view 
of Knox Land, strong confirmation of its existence is afforded by the data 
acquired by us on land and sea in that neighbourhood: in fact our soundings 
show that even if Wilkes’s landfalls between Adelie Land and Queen Mary 
Land be out, the borders of the continent will be found not far to the south. 
[Then followed further reference to the work of the Australasian Antarctic 
Expedition, profusely illustrated by means of lantern slides, some of which were 
colour-photographs. The points dealt with were the following :— 
1, Extensive sledging journeys in Adelie Land, King George Land, and Queen 
Mary Land; the aggregate of all journeys, including supporting parties, exceeded 
4,000 miles. 
2. The use made of wireless telegraphy to fix a fundamental meridian in 
Adelie Land. 
3. The continent south of Australia is of the nature of a high plateau, rising 
to 3,000 feet within twenty miles of the coast, but continuing steadily to rise 
further to the south. The coasts are, for the most part, of the nature of ice 
cliffs, where the ice-cap at the water-front still rides on a rocky bottom. Only 
occasionally do rocky capes break the icy monotony. 
4. Floating extensions of the land-ice are met with at intervals, sometimes 
as tongues from the valley depressions of the borders of the continent, at other 
times as immense aprons. The most notable of the latter, named the Shackleton 
Shelf, extends 180 miles from the land. 
5. A fringe of rocky or ice-capped islets is a feature of much of the coast. 
6. The Continental Shelf is remarkable for its inshore trough : this appears to 
be a regular feature. As one passes out to sea the water at first deepens, then 
shoals, before finally plunging down into the ocean depths. 
7. The ship’s party carried out extensive oceanographic investigations, 
including a large number of deep-sea soundings. 
8. Biological collections were made at each of the three land bases and 
from the ship ; dredgings were made in depths down to 2,000 fathoms. On land 
the eggs of the Antarctic petrel and of the silver-grey petrel were found for the 
first time, and several new birds and their eggs were added to the collection. 
On Macquarie Island a special study was made of sea-elephants. 
9. The rocks of Adelie Land and Queen Mary Land proved to be chiefly very 
ancient gneisses and schists. At Cape Hunter in Adelie Land an ancient 
sedimentary series, in part phyllites, is to be seen. On the coast of King George 
Land there extended tor many miles rocky cliffs 1,000 feet in height ; the upper 
half is columnar dolerite, below is a sedimentary series containing bands of coal 
and carbonaceous shales. Woody matter was dredged up at several points along 
the Antarctic coast. At Macquarie Island the rocks are chiefly igneous—for 
the most part gabbros. Everywhere the island has been overridden by ice, 
leaving behind many small glacial lakes and a mantle of till. 
10. The simultaneous records obtained by three stations, each about 1,000 
miles apart, and all in an entirely new sphere, from which no figures have before 
been returned, will prove of great value when worked up. The weather con- 
ditions at Macquarie Island were ‘ wirelessed ’ up to the Commonwealth Weather 
Bureau every day for two years. During a part of the time it was found possible 
to do the same from Adelie Land. In Adelie Land the most terrific climate 
ever recorded was found to prevail. The average wind velocity for the year 
was found to be 50 miles per hour. 1t sometimes blew at 90 miles per hour for 
24 hours; velocities of over 100 miles per hour were often reached, and on one 
