NOTES ON ANTARCTIC ROCKS. 467 
28° Fabr. Penguins were about in great numbers, and no 
difficulty was experienced in killing some of them, 
On the 14th December, in latitude 66° 44’ S. and longitude 
164° 0’ E., as the Antarctic approached Balleny Island, the ice 
floes greatly increased in size, and some of them were observed to 
carry stones and earth. So thick and dangerous was the ice that 
a vessel, dependent wholly upon sails, could not have existed, and 
even with steam those on board ran very considerable risk, and 
had one or two narrow escapes. They decided to run eastward, 
following in the track of the Erebus and Terror, On Christmas 
Eve they saw the midnight sun in latitude 66° 47’ S. and longi- 
tude 174° 8’ E., and at midnight on the 31st December the sun 
was again shining brightly. 
Altogether they were thirty-eight days in working their way 
through the pack ice, and then they got into a clear, smooth, 
open expanse of sea. They steered straight for Cape Adare in 
Victoria Land, which they first sighted on Jan. 16. Mr. Borch- 
grevink describes it as a square bluff of basaltic rock. The 
temperature of the air here was 32°, and of the water 30, and 
the sky was perfectly clear. Cape Adare rose to a height of 3,77 9 
feet. Near Mount Sabine a peak was sighted clear of snow, con- 
sidered to be a volcano recently in eruption. 
On January 18th, they sighted Possession Island, where Sir - 
James Ross landed fifty-four years before and planted the British 
flag. They found an immense quantity of penguins, and a large 
portion of the island, which they judged to be about three hundred 
and sixty acres in extent, was covered with a deep layer of guano, 
Small plants were found there by Mr. Borchgrevink growing on 
the rocks up to thirty feet above sea level. These have subse- 
quently been identified as lichens. 
On the 20th February they steamed still further sonth ward, 
and sighted a new cape which they named Cape Oscar, in honour 
of the King of Sweden and Norway, whose birthday it happened ~ 
tobe. On the 22nd they were in latitude 74° S., and no whales 
