DIRK GERRITZ ARCHIPELAGO. 185 



and so far as is known it is hilly and almost entirely 

 covered with ice. Foster's statement that the hills of 

 Trinity Land rise to heights of from 5,800 to 6,800 feet 

 may be based on an over-estimate ; it is certain that no 

 such heights are given elsewhere. 



The entire western half of this coast apparently con- 

 sists either of islands or a remarkably narrow peninsula, 

 which forms a division between the eastern portion of 

 Hughes Gulf and Bransfield Straits. The coast seems 

 to run south from Hoseason Harbour, latitude 63° 40' 

 S., longitude 6o° 20' W. According to Dallmann, who 

 unfortunately observed his position rarely and inaccurately, 

 a narrow strait then leads into the Orleans Channel. The 

 land lying to the south of these straits and the southern 

 boundary of Hughes Gulf are only vaguely known ; 

 according to Larsen's opinion — not an unassailable one 

 — and the chart based on it by Friedrichsen, the gulf 

 stands in wide and open connection with Bismarck 

 Straits. Up to the present, the south coast of Hughes 

 Gulf is placed in latitude 64° 20' S., and its west coast 

 is formed by Palmer Land. The gulf or strait, especially 

 in its western portion, has a large number of islands, 

 of which the northernmost, Hoseason Island, was visited 

 by Foster, who landed on Cape Possession in latitude 

 63° 4.6' S. and longitude 6i° 45' W. The ice-covered 

 island proved to be composed of horn-blende syenite, and 

 has therefore no modern eruptive rocks. According 

 to the notes made by Kendall about the view to the 

 south from the neighbourhood of the cape, it seems that 

 the wide gulf becomes an archipelago of numerous small 

 islands farther along, and that their heights are con- 

 siderable, even if they do not reach the measurements 

 given by Webster. This is particularly true of the 

 remainder of Palmer Land, an island or more probably 

 a collection of islands, which according to present know- 

 ledge, extends from Cape Cockburn in the north in 



