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In the summer time the ice pack is in a broken up con- 

 dition, and there are deep notches in its general outline, 

 apparently due to the currents which flow down the American 

 Coast and the Coast of New Zealand ; it is in these 

 directions that explorers have reached their highest latitudes. 

 How far the Antarctic climate may be influenced by volcanic 

 heat we axe unable to say. Rain is not frequent, but snow 

 falls on an average every other day. 



Very little is known of the geology of the Antarctic regions, 

 only a few outlying islands have been examined, and these are 

 all volcanic. Specimens of rocks have been obtained by dredg- 

 ing the sea bottom, a few have been gathered from floating 

 ice, and some from the stomachs of seals and penguins; Dr. 

 McCormack, of the Erebus, says the penguins were his best 

 collectors, some of them having as much as lOlbs. of stones in 

 their stomachs. It has been already mentioned that no ice- 

 bergs are met with carrying stones on their upper surface, but 

 it is evident that the ice sheet moving slowly over the surface 

 of the land must detach rocks with its lower stratum, and 

 accumulate mud from the grinding of the surface over which 

 it passes. These materials are dropped as the bergs meet in 

 warmer waters, hence it is found that the sea bottom is strewn 

 with the remains of the Antarctic land. All the specimens 

 procured from the sea bottom in the vicinity of S. Victoria 

 Land and the South Shetlands are precisely such as would be 

 furnished by the West Coast of Tasmania, they comprise 

 greenstone, basalt, granite, mica slate, chlorite slate, horn- 

 blende slate, and clay slate. One cannot help speculating 

 whether any valuable minerals exist under that great ice sheet, 

 a " rush" to the Frozen South would be something novel, 

 although a precedent can be found ; as far back as Queen 

 Elizabeth's time a number of English gentlemen sailed under 

 Martin Frobisher to look for gold in the Frozen North, — it is 

 needless to say they were disappointed. Dr. McCormack says 

 that the Islands south of Cape Horn are all volcanic. The 

 only specimens procured were basalt, greenstone, granite, vesi- 

 cular lava, scorise, and pumice, tho greenstone is frequently 

 columnar, indeed some of the capes are exactly similar to 

 Cape Pillar. It is somewhat remarkable that no specimens 

 of recent stratified rocks have been obtained, nor can I hear 

 of any fossils having been found. Although volcanic rocks 

 are largely developed in the Arctic regions we find there a 

 considerable thickness of Palaeozoic rocks and Tertiary depo- 

 sits, the former containing coal seams and the latter extensive 

 leaf deposits. We are accustomed to associate coal plants 

 with a moist steamy atmosphere, so that at one time the cli- 

 mate of Greenland must have been sub-tropical. The Ter- 

 tiary Leaf Beds contain abundant remains of the oak, syca- 



