ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE AND RESEARCH 



but more on the northern side. On the twenty- fourth 

 of January, 191 1, I crossed it near the end and noted 

 that it was cracked into large hexagonal areas and I 

 wrote in my notebook, 'Tt is marvellous that it has 

 not gone out." On the first of March, 191 1, about one 

 and one half miles broke off and drifted across Mac- 

 Murdo Sound to remain for a while on the western 

 coast near Granite Harbor. (See Figure 8.) 



We crossed it again without difficulty about halfway 

 along its length on the eleventh of April, 191 1. We 

 found only a few crevasses more than one foot wide. 

 Some areas were much worse than others and small 

 irregular crevasses had made it look like a dish of 

 drying starch. But there was no ''Skauk" (or field of 

 crevasses) as at the root of the IMackay Tongue. The 

 snowdrifts piled up against the sides during winter but 

 these were carried away with the sea-ice in the summer. 

 This tongue helps to lock the sea-ice into the bays near 

 its head. 



The undulating surface is probably connected with 

 the method of formation of the tongue. Perhaps it is 

 due to the ice "plug" being pushed through a restricted 

 rocky gully or cirque at its root. It is difficult to ac- 

 count for these undulations as due to the blizzard drifts, 

 for the drifts take the form of beautifully smooth 

 wedges. The undulations are from ten to eighty feet 

 high, and there are four or five of them to the mile. 



It seemed possible at first that each undulation might 

 be the expression of a year's forward movement, for 

 the motion is probably greater in summer. But this is 

 not the full explanation, for Scott was of the opinion 



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