496 THE-|ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
to their aspect of the glacial epoch under a burden of ice as heavy 
as that which bears upon the remote Antarctic solitudes of Alexander 
Land.* 
* There is a very noticeable difference between my description of Alexander Land 
and that given by Dr. Cook in his work, ‘Through the; First Antarctic Night.’ I cannot 
discuss the question from memory, and the only thing that I can say is that all my 
notes were written on the spot from day to day; that I have always made a point of 
giving correct descriptions and noting down exactly my first impressions. Cook says 
in his book that Alexander Land forms a group of islands, the largest of which is 
about 18 miles long, and that the mountains of this island attain a height of at least 
4500 feet, etc.. . It is always very agreeable to be able to furnish measurements, 
but when these measurements are simply based on estimate they do harm. It may 
be that the length of coast-line visible towards the south was 36 miles, and it is not 
improbable that the summits of Alexander Land reach a height of 9000 feet, or even 
more. The fact is that we made no measurements, and that we have little to add to 
the description as given by Bellingshausen. 
