THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



just died. Evidently the mother seal's affection for her 

 young is very strong. 



In pursuing our north-westerly course we were now 

 crossing a magnificent bay which trended westwards 

 some five or six miles away from the course we were 

 steering. On either side of this bay were majestic 

 ranges of rocky mountains parted from one another 

 at the head of the bay by an immense glacier with 

 steep ice falls. On examining these mountains with a 

 field-glass it was evident that in their lower portions they 

 were formed of granites and gneiss, producing reddish 

 brown soils. At the higher levels, further inland, there 

 were distinct traces of rocks showing horizontal strati- 

 fication. The highest rock of all was black in colour, 

 and evidently very hard, apparently some three 

 hundred feet in thickness. Below this was some 

 softer stratified formation, approximately one thou- 

 sand feet in thickness. We concluded that the hard 

 top layer was composed of igneous rock, possibly a 

 lava, while the horizontal stratified formation be- 

 longed in all probability to the Beacon Sandstone 

 formation. Some fine nunataks of dark rock rose 

 from the south-east side of the great glacier. On 

 either side of this glacier were high terraces of rock 

 reaching back for several miles from a modern valley 

 edge to the foot of still higher ranges. It was obvious 

 that these terraces marked the position of the floor of 

 the old valley at a time when the glacier ice was several 

 thousand feet higher than it is now, and sorne ten miles 

 wider than at present. The glacier trended inland in a 

 general south-westerly direction. 



We longed to turn our sledges shorewards and 

 explore these inland rocks, but this would have involved 

 a delay of several days- — probably a week at least — 

 and we could not afford the time. Mawson took a series 



100 



