160 THE ANTARCTIC. 



summer in spite of their relatively low elevation. Larsen 

 landed in the beginning of December, 1893, on Greenwich 

 Island, and found only the flat centre of the island free 

 from snow, while elsewhere the snow descends to ninety 

 feet above sea-level. It is, however, to be presumed 

 that in January and February larger and more extensive 

 areas are free from snow. 



The next island, Livingston Island, is the second in 

 size of the whole group, and also the best known. It is 

 much articulated on the north side, and also on the north- 

 east, nor are deep bays lacking on the southern side. 

 The orographic structure exactly coincides with the other 

 members of the group already described, for the most 

 important elevations occur in the north-east and in the 

 south, with a gentle descent towards the north. Near the 

 southern shore lies Barnard's Peak, with a height said to 

 be 3,400 to 3,800 feet, the most important summit of the 

 central South Shetland group. The glaciation seems 

 very powerful ; glaciers everywhere descending into the 

 sea, and of one of these Weddell even states that it ex- 

 tended right across the island. Powell also reports that 

 South Bay or Johnson's Harbour, otherwise very favour- 

 ably situated on the south-west coast, is rendered positively 

 dangerous by the glaciers descending into it and the 

 masses of ice constantly falling. Bellingshausen found 

 the north-west coast, on the contrary, tolerably free from 

 ice. The remaining islands are unimportant : Rugged 

 Island, as its name indicates, high and abrupt, Snow 

 Island, on the other hand, the western member, low, 

 monotonous, and covered with snow. D'Urville found 

 the snow dirty in appearance — probably the easy approach 

 to it renders it a haunt of the penguins. 



Scanty as are the data for the orographic structure of 

 the chain of islands just described, they are nevertheless 

 fuller than those relating to their geological structure, 

 though fortunately these are not entirely wanting. Though 



