EXPLORATION OF ANTARCTIC LANDS. 495 
we tried to approach Alexander Land, which, however, proved to 
be inaccessible on account of the pack. At a distance of at least 
20 miles from the land we obtained a sounding of 74 fathoms, with a 
rocky bottom, doubtless the shoal formed by the destruction of some 
former island by marine and glacial erosion. In the evening the 
sky became quite clear, and we were able to see a large island in the 
east, and the extremity of Alexander Land. The island seemed to 
mark the termination of Graham Land, for the coast beyond it seemed 
to turn towards the east. It may be, therefore, that there is a strait, 
or at least a gulf, between the two lands. We could not say positively 
that we saw the south coast of Graham Land, because the distance was 
too great. The island formed a mountain chain with many valleys 
entirely filled with glaciers, but the forms of the mountains were not 
those of the north. I saw no sharp crests; there were rather great 
pyramidal masses, their lower slopes having the appearance of terraces— 
no doubt, hills buried in snow. All round the island a great plain of 
ice sloped out wards, and merged into the surrounding pack. Alexander 
Land, in the south, was a mountainous aggregate over which very lofty 
peaks rose majestically ; it tended north and south, and was lost to 
view vaguely on the horizon. <A cape was seen in the north of this 
land, which formed the extremity of an east-and-west chain, though 
how far it ran to the east we could not see, nor could we be sure that 
it did not terminate in a great mountainous mass which rose beyond it, 
and of which the chain might only be a branch. In fact, two or three 
other lines of mountains seemed to run parallel to each other, unless, 
indeed, these lines are only those of important valleys; anyhow, there 
is a great mass of high land in the south-east. Towards the south the 
mountains seem to become lower and of more gentle outline. It is 
worthy of notice that here also a plain of ice of gentle slope lies at 
the base of the mountains, the glaciers merging into it from above, the 
plain itself merging into the sea-ice studded with imprisoned icebergs. 
In Alexander Land the glaciers thus fail to reach the sea, for they 
coalesce together into one great ice-foot, the existence of which fully 
explains the numerous tabular bergs which we encountered during the 
last two days. The great difference in the configuration of Alexander 
Land and the land we had seen further north may very probably be 
accounted for by the fact that Alexander Land lies outside the region 
of subsidence. Alexander Land has a wider basis than the Palmer 
archipelago or the northern part of Graham Land; it possesses a con- 
tinuous coast-line in place of mountains, plunging perpendicularly 
into the sea. The continuous coast-line seen from a distance may 
indeed be broken into bays and capes in detail, but, even if so, all 
these irregularities are buried under the uniform plain of. the ice-foot. 
But, on the other hand, we do not know what the scenery of the 
lands discovered by the Belgica would be like if they were restored 
