146 THE ANTARCTIC. 



the island its peculiar character is its extraordinarily 

 strong glaciation. Wherever it has been possible to 

 penetrate into the bays, numerous glaciers have been 

 observed descending. Cook found five in Possession 

 Bay, from which great masses of ice were constantly 

 detached and hurled into the sea. In Cumberland Bay, 

 and in several intervening bays, glaciers were seen in 

 all directions. Besides the two miles wide Ross Glacier 

 flowing into Royal Bay, the Weddell Glacier also 

 descends into it, while in Little Haven close by, the 

 great Cook's Glacier makes its way down, and two 

 others do not quite reach the shore. The glaciation 

 on the south-west side is even more extensive than that 

 on the north-east side ; the former being on the windward 

 coast of the island is therefore exposed in the first instance 

 to the west winds and their constant precipitation. 

 Klutschak reports that in the south-eastern part of the 

 island, exactly opposite the neighbourhood of Royal Bay, 

 the coast is said to be enclosed by an ice barrier. This 

 without further testimony seems hardly credible, and 

 assumes a very different structure of this part of the 

 island even if the heavier precipitation is taken into 

 account. 



In spite of the enormous glaciation of the land, it 

 must not be supposed to be completely covered with 

 ice and snow. During the southern summer of 1882-3 

 important elevations in the neighbourhood of Royal Bay 

 lost their winter covering; while, on the other hand, in 

 particularly sheltered spots, even near the shore, the 

 snow lay unmelted the whole summer. At the same 

 time moraines pushed far forward in valleys now free 

 from ice point to the fact that South Georgia, too, 

 as compared with its glacial period has undergone a 

 considerable diminution of its glaciation. That the 

 glaciers of South Georgia undergo considerable change 

 within short periods is proved by the Ross Glacier, 



