Ixxxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
perate and tropical regions, can be little felt. As far as was seen by 
our navigators a great mantle of snow covers all, with the exception 
of some bare spots, probably either too precipitous to be thus en- 
veloped, except by sufficient accumulation around them, or still too 
warm, after flowing as lava currents, to permit a covering of snow. 
| hough we can look to little else, for the wearmg away of the land, 
than the action of the breakers upon the portions of the coast, which 
may for a time be free from ice, with such aid as any marked differ- 
ence of temperature during a very short period in the summer of these 
regions can give, by detaching pieces of rock from the cliffs, yet 
the volcanos may throw el matter into the sea, to be distributed 
by tidal streams or oceanic currents. There is no reason to suppose 
that lofty volcanos, like Mount Erebus, do not occasionally eject 
ashes and cmders in the manner of numerous other great voleanic 
vents, scattering the finer ash around, much of it borne by the winds 
to great distances. The form itself of the mountain poits to the 
ejection of such substances, its conical shape being the result of their 
accumulation immediately around the chief vent. 
By consulting the notices of soundings obtained by Sir James Ross 
off this land, we find a green mud frequently mentioned. For about 
450 miles this green. muddy bottom seems common from Victoria 
Land along the great icy barrier. The same kind of bottom extends 
beyond it, “and some detached portions of the icy barrier are men- 
tioned as aground upon it im 1560 feet of water, 60 miles from the 
edge of the barrier and 200 miles from the land. When we consider 
that the fine detritus so commonly borne down by great rivers in the 
temperate and tropical regions cannot be so transported here, the 
presence of this green mud over so considerable a submarine area 
may possibly be in some measure due to the ejection of fine volcanic 
ashes during a long period of time, these ashes mingling with such 
fine detritus as can be ground off the coast by the breakers, or carried 
outwards by icebergs. 
Glaciers are mentioned as descending from a range of mountains 
(the Admiralty Range) varying from 7000 to 10,000 feet in height, 
and projecting in many places several miles into the sea. As bare 
rocks were seen in a few localities, such glaciers may be the means of 
transporting masses of rock to the sea, a portion of them to be after- 
wards borne by ice into more temperate climates, supposing the 
glaciers to have a movement outwards, however modified this move- 
ment may be by the climate of Victoria Land. 
Although the great icy barrier of these desolate regions extends 
far out beyond the land, and beyond where it can be aground, some 
portions rest on the bottom. Icebergs which have so rested upon 
the ground seem often to be turned bottom upwards, the previously 
lower portions bearimg to the surface mud, sand and stones, some of 
which may thus become transported considerable distances; more 
particularly should the icebergs not again capsize, since the mud, 
sand and stones would be borne on the higher parts of the icebergs. 
Sir James Ross mentions one remarkable instance of the appearance 
of the mud and stone-covered bottom of an iceberg, which capsized 
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