ISLAND OF SOUTH GEORGIA. 141 



than probable that this elevation in the bed of the ocean 

 is closely connected with the Cordilleras, since it is not 

 easy to imagine a continental ridge other than a pro- 

 longation of these, or a piled-up mass of non-volcanic 

 origin. Proceeding from the Burdwood Bank towards 

 E.N.E. the direction leads to the isolated cliffs of the 

 Shag Rocks, rising above the depths to a height of 140 

 feet in latitude 53° 49/ S. and longitude 43° 26' W. 

 Weddel assigns only a height of forty-five to sixty 

 feet to the Shag Rocks, and describes them as three 

 cone-shaped rocks surrounded by a reef. We reach 

 these rocks, however, if the direction of the western 

 extremity of South Georgia is pursued, so that the 

 possibility of this island being causally connected with 

 the Cordilleras is perfectly credible. The eastern ex- 

 tremity of South Georgia turns to the south-east, and 

 its extension is perceived in the Clerkes Rocks, numerous 

 rocky islets which again lie in a continuation of the same 

 line to the Traversey Islands, the north-western members 

 of the volcanic South Sandwich group. The group again 

 does not extend in a line parallel to the meridian, but in 

 a wide curve open to the west, so that the southernmost 

 islands again extend to the south-west. 



In regard of its extension the whole group bears a 

 strong resemblance to the Lesser Antilles, and if we con- 

 tinue the comparison South Georgia would correspond 

 to Puerto Rico or to Haiti in regard of situation. It is 

 well known that the Lesser Antilles represent the inner 

 zone of the Central American Cordillera chain, here sunk 

 in the ocean depths with the exception of the summits of 

 its volcanoes, while the Greater Antilles, together with the 

 islands lying east of the volcanoes of the Lesser Antilles, 

 represent the non-volcanic zone. This range of the 

 Cordilleras passes by way of the island of Trinidad, here 

 extending west, and reappears on the continent as the 

 Cordillera of Venezuela. If an equivalent is sought 



