An Ice Wrapped Continent 



105 



not attempt to advance across the plain. 

 The following year Captain Scott and 

 several companions ascended to this 

 plateau by Armitage's route. Their dogs 

 had all failed and the men were obliged 

 to drag the heavy sledges. It was a 

 heavy pull, as they had to climb 9,000 

 feet in 70 miles, up a rough glacier. 



Captain Scott traveled to the westward 

 about 200 miles across this plateau, which 

 did not vary in altitude more than 60 or 

 70 feet. At one point he passed directly 

 south of the Magnetic Pole. 



"The error of our compass had passed 

 from east to west and was nearly at its 

 maximum of 180° ; although I could not 

 calculate it accurately at the time, I could 

 get a good idea of its amount by observ- 

 ing the direction in which the sun reached 

 its greatest altitude. The reader will see 

 that from a magnetic point of view this 

 was a very interesting region. We were 

 directly south of the South Magnetic 

 Pole and the north end of our compass 

 needle was pointing toward the South 

 (geographical) Pole. 



"To show what a practical bearing this 

 reversal of the compass had, I may re- 

 mark that in directing Skelton on his 

 homeward track to the eastward, I told 

 him to steer due west by the compass 

 card. It is only on this line or the similar 

 one which joins the northern poles that 

 such an order could be given, and we 

 were not a little proud of being the first 

 to experience this distinctly interesting 

 physical condition in the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere. 



"There can be little doubt, I think, that 

 the wind blows from the west to the east 

 across this plateau throughout the winter, 

 and often with great violence, as the 

 high snow-waves show. What the tem- 

 perature can be at that season is beyond 

 guessing ; but if the thermometer, can fall 

 to -40° in the height of the summer, one 

 can imagine that the darker months pro- 

 duce a terrible extremity of cold. 



"The interior of Victoria Land must 

 be considered the most desolate region in 

 the world. There is none other that is at 

 once so barren, so deserted, so piercingly 



cold, so wind-swept, or so fearsomely 

 monotonous. 



"When the reader considers its geo- 

 graphical situation, its great elevation, 

 and the conditions to which we were sub- 

 jected while traveling across it, he will, I 

 think, agree that there can be no place on 

 earth that is less attractive. 



"This great ice-sheet is unique ; it has 

 no parallel in the world, and its discovery 

 must be looked upon as a notable geo- 

 graphic fact." 



ICE-FLOWERS 



In his diary, Captain Scott gives the 

 following description of the only flowers 

 they saw : 



''-March 30 {Easier Sunday). — Like 

 yesterday, a fine day, with a light north- 

 erly breeze. This is a season of flowers, 

 and behold! they have sprung up about 

 us as by magic — very beautiful ice- 

 flowers, waxen white in the shadow, but 

 radiant with prismatic colors, where the 

 sun rays light on their delicate petals. 

 It was a phenomenon to be expected in 

 the newly frozen sea, but it is curious 

 that they should come to their greatest 

 perfection on this particular day. The 

 ice is about five inches thick and free 

 from snow ; consequently the ice-flowers 

 stand up clear-cut and perfect in form. 

 In some places they occur thickly, with 

 broad, delicate, feathery leaves ; in others 

 the dark, clear ice surface is visible, with 

 only an occasional plant on it : in others, 

 again, the plants assume a spiky appear- 

 ance, being formed of innumerable small 

 spicules. 



"The more nearly one examines these 

 beautiful formations, the more wonderful 

 they appear, as it is only by close inspec- 

 tion that the mathematical precision of 

 the delicate tracery can be observed. It 

 is now established 'that on the freezing of 

 salt water much of the brine is mechan- 

 ically excluded. Sea-ice is much less 

 salt than the sea itself, and what salt re- 

 mains is supposed only to be entangled in 

 the frozen water. The amount of salt 

 excluded seems to depend on the rate at 

 which the ice is formed, and while some is 



