An Ice Wrapped Continent 



99 



the barrier and under the ice for 

 a certain time, then turned and 

 set out again to sea. It would be 

 very interesting to know how far 

 "inland" this flux and reflux 

 penetrates. 



During the first spring and 

 summer Captain Scott, Ivieuten- 

 ant Schackleton, and Dr Wilson 

 advanced 400 miles due south 

 across the barrier to 82° 17' 

 south latitude. When they 

 halted they could see to at least 

 84°, but the barrier still stretched 

 ahead, apparently unending. If 

 the dogs had not failed the party, 

 they would probably have suc- 

 ceeded in getting farther, but, as 

 it is, they beat the record for the 

 "Farthest South" by several de- 

 grees. 



This ice barrier is probably 

 thrust off of some great body of 

 land enveloping the South Pole. 

 While the barrier is wearing 

 away in front, as proven by the 

 fact of its retreat of 30 miles in 

 60 years, it is .being constantly 

 fed in the rear; in fact, its recession in 

 front would be considerably more rapid 

 if the loss was not balanced' by additions 

 in the rear.* How far off the source is, 

 is a mystery ; and when we bear in mind 

 the scarcity of precipitation in such 

 southern latitudes, it is almost impossible 

 to imagine where the supply is to be 

 found. 



The following year Lieutenant Royds 

 led a party about 100 miles across the 

 barrier to the east. Like Scott, he found 

 it level everywhere. 



It was on this journey also that a most 

 interesting series of magnetic observa- 

 tions were taken by Bernacchi, who car- 

 ried with him the Barrow dip circle, an 

 especially delicate instrument. The great 

 value of these observations lies in the fact 

 that they were taken in positions which 

 were free from all possible disturbances, 

 either from casual iron or from land 

 masses ; the positions also run in a line 

 which is almost directly away from the 

 *Voyage of The Discovery, vol. 2, p. 42r. 



Examining the Ice Barrier from a Balloon 



Magnetic Pole, and consequently the 

 series is an invaluable aid to mapping out 

 the magnetic conditions of the whole of 

 this region. 



THE MOST desolate; LAND IN THE WORLD 



During the entire march of 400 miles 

 southward over the ice barrier, Captain 

 Scott had been flanked by a lofty moun- 

 tain chain on the right at a distance of 

 about 50 to 30 miles. The peaks he 

 named after prominent Englishmen and 

 supporters of the expedition. Mount 

 Markham (15,000), Mount Longstaff 

 (10,350), etc. At the end of the march 

 he had tried to reach this land, but an 

 immense chasm (page 102) barred his 

 way. On his return to the ship, after an 

 absence of 93 days, he found that Lieu- 

 tenant Armitage had discovered a route 

 across this chain of mountains, beyond 

 which he reported a limitless ice-covered 

 plateau at an elevation of 8,900 feet and 

 flat as a table. Armitage, however, did 



