470 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
between the rocks, and while examining this clay I had the pleasure of 
discovering the first Antarctic insect, almost microscopic in its dimen- 
sions. 
In the afternoon a breeze sprang up suddenly, and the sky gradually 
cleared ; but the fug descended on us again with equal suddenness, just 
as it does on mountains above the cloud-level. Every now and again 
a momentary clearing revealed a beautiful picture of mountain peaks, 
the bases of which were covered, of great glaciers losing themselves in 
the clouds, or of fantastic icebergs, everything appearing larger than 
nature because there was no perspective, and the fine pictures them- 
selves were vaguely framed in cloud. The light, however, was abundant, 
the low clouds which sometimes touched the sea were white and even 
brilliant, and sometimes a beam of sunlight threw a sparkling lustre on 
the ice, or on the great snow-fields, or on the sea. 
The silence which brooded over this unknown world was singularly 
impressive, but occasionally a mountain of ice would collapse with a 
thundering crash. One could hardly believe one’s eyes when these 
changes in the fairy-like scene occurred, were it not for the dull 
rumbling growl of the disrupted glaciers. In fact, this realm of eternal 
ice is so different from anything one had seen that it appeared another 
world altogether ; in sober truth, I do not believe that in any fable the 
human imagination has described what we have seen there. 
From the point of view of astronomical observations Lecointe has 
been unfortunate, as the sun had rarely shown itself, and he had only 
been able to fix the latitude (64° 9’ at noon). He kept up a continuous 
survey of the coast as we passed near the shore, and so succeeded in 
making a chart of Hughes gulf. The only maps which we possessed— 
and they are all that exist—were the British Admiralty chart, No, 1238, 
and Friederichsen’s map. The general result of the day’s work had 
been the discovery of an elevated land where Friederichsen’s map bore 
the inscription, “No land in sight (Larsen).” Towards the east and 
south an uninterrupted coast-line stretched as far as the eye could reach, 
but in the south-west a large strait opened into the gulf, and this it was 
necessary to explore. The land in the north-west was also divided by 
a channel, towards which the commandant first directed the ship. The 
large bay which we had coasted during the afternoon was very free from 
ice, although as we went further into the bay the number of bergs 
increased, but still the Belgica had no difficulty in approaching close to 
the shore. At the head of the bay my attention was particularly drawn 
to the floating ice. Several of the numerous icebergs were of quite 
respectable dimensions; their form varied considerably, but usually 
more or less tabular; one of the bergs was pierced, forming a floating 
triumphal arch. The stratification of the ice was rarely noticed, but 
in diffused light it is not easy to make out the difference between the 
alternate layers of blue and white ice; still, in the upper part of the 
