SOUTH GEORGIA. 



481 



and a fresh supply of provisions. An inlet in the harbour is full of dismasted 

 hulks Mhich were found too damaged to be worth while patching up again. 



The administration of the archipelago is entrusted to a governor, directly 

 appointed by the Crown, and assisted by a legislative and an executive council, 

 also nominated by the Queen. Since 1892 the colonists have begun to take 

 part in the government of the islands. 



South Georgia. 



South Georgia, about 1,600 square miles in extent, depends administratively 

 on the Government of the Falkland Islands. But it is uninhabited, and only 

 occasionally visited by fishers and sailors. Even its contour lines are not yet 



Fig. 190. — South Georgia. 

 Scale 1 : 1.900,000 Miles. 



36 Miles. 



accurately determined, and the surveys taken by the English and Russian navi- 

 gators do not penetrate inland, nor, in some cases, even to the head of the bays 

 and creeks. 



The relief of the interior was unknown in the year 1882, when a German 

 scientific expedition established itself at Royal Bay, at the eastern extremity of 

 the island, to take part in the circumpolar studies, at that time undertaken by the 

 leading maritime powers in connection with the transit of Yenus. But the 

 expedition confined its explorations to the immediate vicinity of the bay. 



The island, above which rise snowy peaks ranging from 6,500 to 8,000 feet in 

 height, consists exclusively of very old unfossilifeious formations, gneiss, and 

 argillaceous schists, of difficult access from the sea. The cliffs have been worn by 



