THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 49 
rigging in height ; they overhung our ships, whose dimensions seemed 
ridiculously curtailed. We seem to be traversing the narrow streets 
of some city of giants. At the foot of these gigantic mountains we 
perceived vast caverns hollowed by the waves, which were engulfed 
there with a crashing tumult. The sun darted his oblique rays upon 
the immense walls of ice, making them look as if they were crystal, and 
presenting effects of light and shade truly magical and startling. 
From the summit of these mountains, numerous brooks, fed by the 
melting ice produced by the summer heat of a January sun in these 
regions, threw themselves in cascades into the icy sea. Occasionally 
these icebergs would approach each other so as to conceal the land 
entirely, and we could only perceive two walls of threatening ice, 
whose sonorous echoes sent back the word of command of the 
officers. The corvette which followed the Astrolabe appeared so 
small, and its masts so slender, that the ship’s crew were seized 
with terror. For nearly an hour we only saw vertical walls of 
ice.” 
Ultim&tely they reached a vast basin, formed on one side by the 
chain of floating islands which they had traversed and on the other 
by high land rising 3,000 and 4,000 feet, rugged and undulating on 
the surface, but clothed all over with an icy mantle which was 
rendered dazzlingly imposing in its whiteness by the rays of the sun. 
The officers could only advance by means of the ship’s boats through 
a labyrinth of icebergs up to a little islet lying opposite to the coast. 
They landed on this islet; the French flag was planted, possession 
was taken of the new territory, and, in proof of possession, some 
portions of rock were torn from the scarped and denuded cliffs. 
These rocks were found to be composed of quartz and gneiss. The 
southern continent, therefore, apparently belongs to the primitive 
formation, while the northern region belongs in great part to the 
carboniferous period. According to D’Urville, who surveyed the 
region of Adelia’s Land over an extent of thirty leagues of country, 
the region is one of death and desolation, without any trace of 
vegetation. 
A little more to the south the French navigator had a vague ’ 
vision of the white outlines of the horizon of another land, which he 
named Céte Claire, or Coast Clear, the existence of which was soon 
afterwards confirmed by the American expedition under Commodore 
Wilkes. This officer has explored the southern land on a larger 
scale than any other navigator ; but he suffered himself to be led into 
error by the dense fogs of the region, and has laid down coast lines 
on his map where Sir James Ross subsequently found only open 
E 
