446 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
hollowed out by wind in the sand deserts. It was especially in the less 
sheltered places that the irregularities were more marked. At other points 
this ice crust seemed also traversed by ravines or hollowed by water. The 
sun was shining brilliantly, adding greatly to the already very imposing 
aspect of this mass of ice. With our glasses we were gazing curiously 
on this mysterious land, the existence of which no longer seemed 
doubtful, but which had not as yet offered any undeniable proof of it. 
Before long the man on the look-out thought he could distinguish a dark 
spot on the coast line, and hastened to announce his discovery ; several 
officers who had run up the rigging also thought they could see the 
longed-for signs across a mass of floating islands which bordered the 
coast. But as we approached, the black spot which had been sighted 
suddenly disappeared. We recognised among the floating islands cne 
which had an earthy colour, and this might have given rise to the 
mistake. We supposed that this was the dark spot seen by the man on 
the look-out. It is possible, however, that there was in this part an 
island or a bare summit, which might have appeared in a given direc- 
tion, but which had disappeared later behind the icebergs (glaces) which 
bordered the coast. The events of the next few hours show that this 
hypothesis was very probable. 
The wind, although light, was favourable for sailing along the coast 
westwards. All day was occupied in exploring it. We noticed several 
projecting headlands and some rather shallow bays choked by an im- 
mense quantity of floating islands; everywhere the coast presented the 
same aspect, terminating towards the sea in an ice-wall which rendered 
all landing impossible. For some time MM. Dumoulin and Coupvent, 
who were anxious to obtain magnetic observations more conclusive than 
those they had made on board, had asked me to land either on the coast 
or some ice-island sufficiently large to be absolutely steady. In vain 
during the day had I sought an opportunity to satisfy this laudable 
desire ; all the ice-islands that we met with were inaccessible. But 
towards 6 p.m. one of them, having a fairly easy incline on one side, 
seemed to unite all the conditions necessary for this kind of work. 
Immediately the whale-boat was lowered in order to convey the officers 
who were to take their observations. In the meantime our corvettes 
luy-to, in order not to drift from this spot. It was at this moment that 
we verified irrefutably the existence of land. M. Duroch, who was 
officer of the watch, had already fixed his glass on a point where for a 
moment he thought he saw dark spots; but every mark of the sort 
immediately disappeared as our corvettes began to move. Suddenly, 
he ayain noticed rocks, the sombre hue of which contrasted with the 
whiteness of the snow, but they disappeared immediately behind the 
icchergs; this time, however, the land had been recognised in an unmis- 
tukable manner. I decided to have a boat got’ ready to go and verify 
this important fact. At this advanced hour of the day, the sending of 
