ON COLLECTING IN ANTARCTIC 
Slaves. 
By T. V. Hopeson, F.L.S. 
As the stay of the ‘Discovery’ in Winter Quarters extended over two years, it may 
be of some interest to explain the principal features and conditions of the locality 
where such a large proportion of the collections were made. 
McMurdo Sound, as it now appears on the charts, is the channel passing between 
the mainland of South Victoria Land and the large island upon which the active 
voleanoes Erebus and Terror stand. The Sound is, however, converted into a true 
bay by the passage across its southern extremity of that vast sheet of ice which forms 
Ross’ Great Ice Barrier, and which as effectively closes it as if by terra jirma. As this 
great ice sheet travels northwards past the Sound, pressure is relieved and the ice 
invades the bay, but its action is checked and complicated by means of certain islands 
as shown on the map issued with Vols. I. and Il. Of these, White Island is the most 
important, as it lies nearly half-way between Minna Bluff and Cape Mackay, 
dividing the southern opening of the Sound into two. The larger and more easterly 
of the two openings is by far the most important, as the other is complicated by 
the presence of Black Island. Brown Island exerts but little influence on the ice 
movements of the Sound. 
A tide crack separating the Barrier from the “floating” ice runs between Black 
Island and the Bluff Range a little to the south of Mount Discovery. From the 
south-west corner of Black Island there is a continuous if gradual rise in the ice-sheet 
to a line between the south-east corner of the same island and White Island. From 
this point there is a comparatively rapid descent possibly equal to, if not greater than, 
the previous ascent ; the descent is accomplished in the distance of half a mile, and 
there is a triple tide crack at the bottom. The mouth of the Sound from Cape Bird 
to an unnamed headland on the mainland is about forty-two geographical miles 
wide, and it is approximately the same distance from Cape Bird to Hut Point, under 
the shelter of which the ‘Discovery’ lay. These figures were given to me by 
Lieut. Armitage when we were in Winter Quarters. Subsequent observations, as 
shown by the map, seem to have modified them a little. 
On the 20th of January, 1902, the ‘Discovery’ passed across the mouth of 
MeMurdo Sound ; it was then full of ice. The floes were of no great size and for the 
VOL. III. B 
