CH. LV] 
De Gerlache" s Voyage 
435 
but was stopped by the pack. It was, however, sighted. 
The coast beyond seemed to turn to the east. The 
Alexander Island glaciers were found not to reach the 
sea, coalescing in a gigantic ice-foot or terrace. 
De Gerlache then left the coast of Graham Land and 
the Belgica was steered westward into the Pacific on 
February 24th, being in 69° 30' S. Working through the 
closely-packed ice the ship had reached a latitude of 
7i°3i'S. on the 20th March, in longitude 85 0 16' W. 
The young ice was forming fast, and it became evident 
that they would have to winter in the pack. During that 
dreary winter the ship drifted from 85 0 to 90 0 W., the 
Peter Island of Bellingshausen being in 92 °. As summer 
approached it was necessary to cut a canal to the open 
water, but at length the Belgica was clear of the ice on 
March 14th, 1899. 
Over the area that the vessel drifted during the winter 
the depth averaged about 270 fathoms. This was a 
continental shelf, showing that the land was at no great 
distance to the south. At the edge of the shelf to the 
north there was an abrupt descent to 800 fathoms. 
This discovery of the edge of the continental shelf 
in the Pacific Ocean is important, combined with the 
discoveries of Bellingshausen. But all the work done by 
this expedition was well done and has increased our 
knowledge of the geology and glaciation of Graham 
Land. Captain de Gerlache conducted the expedition 
with ability and success. He has since done very useful 
Arctic work in the same ship, with the Due d'Orleans. 
M. Ar^towski's excellent paper on the exploration of 
Antarctic lands during the voyage of the Belgica was 
included in the Royal Geographical Society's Antarctic 
Manual 1 . 
NordenskiOld 
The Swedish expedition, which was equipped at 
Gothenburg in 1901, was intended to investigate the 
geology of the south-west part of the South Shetlands, 
where fossils were first made known by Captain Larsen, 
1 Qutnze Mots dans I'Antarctique, par le Commandant de Gerlache 
(Hachette, 1902), 106 illustrations and chart, pp. 284. 
''Exploration of Antarctic Lands/' byHenryk Arctowski, in the Antarctic 
Manual. 
28—2 
