BOUVET ISLANDS. 137 



to be eighteen to twenty-one nautical miles. From north 

 to south the island was about twelve to fifteen nautical 

 miles long. The land was on the whole high, and 

 covered with snow in its more elevated parts, but in 

 the south-east it descended rather low. The coast had 

 many small indentations, but was so steep as to be 

 nearly unapproachable. As it was, Bouvet's ships could 

 not get nearer than twelve to fifteen nautical miles, as 

 the coast was surrounded by dense pack-ice. In con- 

 sequence of this, and of the dense and frequent fogs, it 

 was impossible for Bouvet to obtain a clearer image of 

 •the natural features of his discovery. 



Lindsay, who saw land considerably earlier, as far as 

 the season is concerned, places the middle of the island 

 seen by him in latitude 54° 22' S. and longitude 4 15' 

 E., and gives it an extension of about fifteen nautical 

 miles east and west. He, too, found it covered with 

 snow, and, like Bouvet, he describes the eastern end as 

 low and the western as very high and steep. He tried 

 to approach the island, but was prevented by the ice 

 closely surrounding it. This extended three nautical 

 miles on the west side, but on the east (the lee) side 

 the ice had a breadth of twenty-one to thirty-four miles. 

 Bouvet, like Lindsay, thought he noticed trees, or, at 

 least, shrubs, in places free from snow, probably the 

 tussock grass, so widely spread over sub-Antarctic islands. 



Finally, Norris, who in 1823 discovered land and 

 landed on it, gives so different a position and descrip- 

 tion that one must assume that either his predecessors 

 had calculated the position of their discovery most in- 

 accurately, or had found an altogether different island, 

 since Norris declares he saw not only one but two 

 islands, besides several rocks. The middle of the first 

 of these, which he named Liverpool Island, lies ac- 

 cording to him in latitude 54° 15' S. and longitude 5 

 £., extends nine to twelve nautical miles north and 



