262 THE ANTARCTIC. 



of icebergs frequently observed in the neighbourhood - 

 of Wilkes' problematical termination land. Between 

 June, 1896, and the commencement of 1898, masses of 

 icebergs appeared even north of Kerguelen Land. A 

 similar but less important deviation in the middle 

 portion of the ice limit is observed south of New 

 Zealand, and finally also in Drake Strait, which latter 

 is easily accounted for by the collection of masses of 

 warm water, which are piled up along the Western 

 Coast of Patagonia, and partly encircle Cape Horn. 



The sea ice of the Antarctic regions is of small 

 importance in comparison with the icebergs ; this is 

 probably due to the action of the high waves of the 

 broad, storm-lashed southern ocean, to which the south 

 polar waters are accessible and exposed. The low 

 temperature of the winter in high southern latitudes must 

 of course tend to form extensive fields of ice ; but, on 

 the other hand, they are continually broken up by the 

 restlessness of the sea. In the higher latitudes of Ross 

 Sea, fresh ice begins to form very rapidly — as early as the 

 end of February — whilst Weddell saw not the least trace 

 of fresh ice at the same time of year in Weddell Sea, in 

 latitude 74 15' S. In the region west of Peter I. Island, 

 Hudson and Walker found that in latitude 69 to 70° S. 

 fresh ice began to form at the end of March ; along the 

 coast of Wilkes Land no observations have as yet been 

 made on the formation of new ice ; presumably it will not 

 take place before the end of February, unless we suppose 

 that this month was in 1840 unusually mild. On the 

 other hand, Biscoe noticed that in the first days of March 

 the sea near Enderby Land was in a short time covered 

 with ice an inch thick, when the water was calm. 



No direct observations have as yet been made on 

 the thickness which Antarctic sea ice attains in the course 

 of the winter. It has been asserted that clumps of ice 

 a year old were some three feet thick, but this is an 



