THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



1007 



side of the Antarctic by Bruce's and Nor- 

 denskj old's expeditions. 



The mystery of the Great Ice Barrier 

 has not been solved, and it would seem 

 that the question of its formation and 

 extent cannot be determined definitely 

 until an expedition traces the line of the 

 mountains round its southerly edge. A 

 certain amount of light has been thrown 

 on the construction of the Barrier, in 

 that we were able, from observations and 

 measurements, to conclude provisionally 

 that it is composed mainly of snow. The 

 Barrier still continues its recession, which 

 has been observed since the voyage of 

 Sir James Ross in 1842. There certainly 

 appears to be a high snow-covered land 

 on the 163d meridian, where we saw 

 slopes and peaks, entirely snow covered. 



rising to a height of 800 feet, but we did 

 not see any bare rocks, and did not have 

 an opportunity to take soundings at this 

 spot. We could not arrive at any definite 

 conclusion on the point. 



The journey made by the northern 

 party resulted in the attainment of the 

 South Magnetic Pole, the position of 

 which was fixed, by observations made 

 on the spot and in the neighborhood, at 

 latitude 72 25' south, longitude 155 16' 

 east. The first part of this journey was 

 made along the coast-line of Victoria 

 Land, and many new peaks, glaciers and 

 ice-tongues were discovered, in addition 

 to a couple of small islands. The whole 

 of the coast traversed was carefully tri- 

 angulated, and the existing map was cor- 

 rected in several respects. 



OUTLINE MAP OF SOUTH POLAR REGIONS 



