SOUTH ORKNEY ISLAXDS. 



1 53 



contain little beyond a survey of the most important 

 promontories. The group consists of two larger and 

 several smaller islands, and is surrounded by numerous 

 isolated rocks, more or less lofty. The main axis runs 

 from east to west in the smaller, Laurie Island, and some- 

 what more to the north-west in the larger, Coronation 

 Island. Both are separated from each other by a broad 

 channel, which is itself again divided by two narrow 

 islands lying north and south, Powell Islands, into 

 Washington Straits on the east, and the narrower 

 Lewthwaite Straits on the west. The easternmost and 

 far projecting point of Laurie Island is Cape Dundas, 

 in latitude 6o° 57' S. and longitude 43° 55' W. (Weddell 



Map of the South Orkney Islands (after Dumont d'Urville). 



gives 6o° 47' S. and 43° 36' W.), while the westernmost 

 projection is in longitude 44° 45' W. with the same 

 latitude. The breadth of the island is from nine to 

 eleven miles, its length from twenty-five to twenty-eight 

 miles, and the area may therefore be calculated at 235 

 to 312 square miles. The island is lofty, for several 

 summits of from 2,200 to 3,000 feet high are mentioned, 

 but these figures cannot of course be accepted as strictly 

 accurate. Towards the coast the descents are steep, 

 with the exception of Cape Dundas in the east, where 

 it seems lower. All accounts agree as to the nearly 

 complete glaciation of the island ; in many parts the 

 glaciers reach the sea, and only the very steepest slopes 



