220 THE ANTARCTIC. 



ninety miles ; the elevations attain, like the others of 

 Wilkes Land, a height of 10,000 to 11,000 feet; they 

 ascend gently to rounded summits, whose ice covering 

 terminates in the usual ice barrier. Ringgold, who 

 describes the elevations of that district as lofty cones, 

 probably fell a victim to the familiar optical delusion of 

 over-estimating the angle of inclination. 



Over the whole tract from Cape Carr to Knox's High- 

 land both Wilkes and Ringgold fell in with numerous 

 icebergs, thickly covered with debris, which are such sure 

 indications of neighbouring land, that its proximity would 

 be regarded as highly probable, even if it had not been 

 actually seen by both of them as well as by Balleny. Near 

 the last sighting of land Ringgold specially noticed that 

 the ice barrier, as well as the icebergs originating from it, 

 appear quite dark in consequence of the heavy masses 

 of dSbris they held in clearly distinguishable strata. The 

 rocks of this ice-bound conglomerate consisted of red 

 sandstone, granite (perhaps gneiss), red clay and dark 

 mud, as well as sand in great masses. Wilkes mentions 

 basalt ; this would be highly interesting, but unfortunately 

 the conformation of the coast, added to the fact, that 

 Wilkes frequently mistook dark rocks for basalt, lead to 

 the suspicion that an error has crept in, and that crystalline 

 slate, or perhaps amphibolite, has been erroneously des- 

 ignated as basalt. 



De'drzs-covered icebergs were seen not merely in the 

 neighbourhood of the land actually sighted, but Wilkes 

 as well as Ringgold have encountered them farther west ; 

 Wilkes, indeed, as far as ioo° E., which is at no great 

 distance from the spot where in longitude 97 37' E. and 

 latitute 64° 1' S. he believed he had seen the last indication 

 of land called " Termination Land ". It has been 

 mentioned above that in 1874 the Challenger made a near 

 approach to this spot from the west without noticing any 

 trace of land, whence it may be inferred that Wilkes' 



