490 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
yards. and one was certainly over 1100 yards, in length. Although 
there was no sunshine, we heard the thunder of the avalanches from the 
land. In the north-east we saw the front of a very large glacier, but 
the upper part was swathed in cloud. Att the head of the fjord there 
were no rocks to be seen; a wall of ice met the water all round—the 
nature of it, however, was not quite the same at every point. 
On Friday morning at 9 o’clock we made the nineteenth landing on 
a little islet, or rather a big roche moutonnée under a great shield of 
snow, rising gently from the water (XIX on map, Fig. 2). The strip 
of bare rock between sea and snow reached only 2 or 3 yards above the 
level of the water, and was remarkably smooth and glossy. There were 
two islets of this kind, and between them a moraine just appeared above 
the sea; it consisted of very large blocks of rock, probably diverse, but 
I could not get to see them. Lecointe, who landed for an observation 
on this island, was certainly very hard pressed for time. 
The weather cleared a little in the afternoon, and we continued & 
search for a passage to the east, but there was none—it was merely a 
fjord. I only caught a glimpse, in a clear moment, of one of the lofty 
summits which must exist to the east, from which the great glaciers 
flow. From the head of the fjord valleys radiate inland like fingers 
from a hand, each filled by a great glacier. Some of the glaciers at the 
head of this fjord were very large; descending by an easy gradient, 
they formed a broad flat base, which launched great table-topped bergs 
of much regularity. In turning to the west after completing our 
circuit, we met more floating ice. About 6 p.m. we were surrounded 
by ice, and in fog, which remained at some little height above the water. 
Here we observed a strange and very beautiful phenomenon. At a given 
moment the ice suddenly assumed an intense blue colour, of extraordinary 
purity, a little tinged with purple near the horizon, and becoming 
lighter higher up, changing into a steely tint above, but showing no 
trace of green. Fog and ice were coloured alike, hence they must both 
have been illuminated by blue light. In the south-west, about 15° 
above the horizon, the blue disappeared and was succeeded by a luminous 
steel-grey sky, and above this white light a yellowish stratum faded 
off upwards into a faint orange glow, and finally, beyond 25° above the 
horizon, the whole sky was a dull grey mass of cloud. The phenomenon 
was at its maximum intensity about 7 p.m., when the sun was 18° 30! 
above the horizon, and at eight o’clock it bad become very faint. The 
air was clear enough to allow us to see floating ice a mile away. Soon 
after eight the fog closed in again, and when going dead slow the Belgica 
collided with a small berg, but the shock was not severe, although the 
bow-sprit was damaged. 
On Saturday, February 12, a good deal of floating ice was in sight 
in pieces of all sizes, and there was a little field-ice. The sky cleared, 
aud high mountains appeared in the south. At 9 a.m.two rocky points 
