HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 97 



was discovered to be an isolated island, small but elevated, 

 and to this the name of Franklin Island was given. A 

 perilous landing was effected, and the position found to 

 be latitude 76° 8' S. and longitude 168° 12' E. 



On further progress south, land appeared in the same 

 direction, in the radiance of the midnight sun, seemingly 

 consisting of a number of small islands. Meanwhile the 

 further the ships advanced the higher the apparent 

 islands rose on the horizon, and it was soon evident that 

 they were the summits of lofty mountains forming a coast 

 which seemed to extend east and west. These summits 

 were cone-shaped, and although it was first supposed that 

 the summit of one was surrounded by masses of snow- 

 drift, it was soon seen that these clouds consisted of 

 smoke, ejected at irregular intervals by the mountain 

 itself, and that the totally unexpected spectacle of an 

 active volcano presented itself in these high latitudes. 

 The reflection of the lava was distinctly seen over the 

 crater, and some of the officers even thought they saw 

 streams of lava proceeding from the summit. This 

 volcano was named Mount Erebus, and its height was 

 estimated at 12,400 feet, while a smaller one, Mount 

 Terror, lying to the east, 10,900 feet high, appeared to 

 be no longer active ; its sides, however, were more free 

 from snow than those of its greater neighbour. To the 

 north of Mount Erebus lay a small, elevated, round 

 island named Beaufort Island, while a promontory at its 

 foot was called Cape Bird, and another at the foot of 

 Mount Terror, Cape Crozier. 



It had been remarked, at the very first approach to 

 land, that an apparently low white line extending from 

 the eastern point of Mount Terror was continued east- 

 wards till it was lost to the eye on the horizon. On 

 nearer approach this proved to be a perfectly perpendicular 

 cliff of ice, between 150 and 200 feet above sea-level, 

 perfectly flat and level at the top, and without fissure or 



