i 4 4 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
ing but perpendicular rocks could be seen ; it bears evi- 
dent marks of having been a volcano, as it is nothing less 
than a complete cinder, with immense veins of lava, 
which have the appearance of black glass, though some 
are streaked with white.” 
When Liverpool Island was first sighted the centre was 
seen to be covered with snow, but from the fact of its 
complete circumnavigation and no mention having been 
made of ice, it would seem that no glaciers reached the 
sea. 
The work of the sealers may be interrupted for a mo- 
ment to refer to a scientific expedition sent out by the 
British government for the purpose of carrying out ob- 
servations on magnetism and the force of gravity in the 
South Atlantic. Sir Edward Sabine, who did more than 
any Englishman of his generation to advance the science 
of physical geography, had taken up the task of measur- 
ing the force of gravity by swinging pendulums at dif- 
ferent parts of the Earth’s surface, the only method 
known by which the true form of the surface of the globe 
can be ascertained. In pursuance of these researches 
the Admiralty sent out an extremely talented and thor- 
oughly scientific officer, Captain Henry Foster, in com- 
mand of H. M. S. Chanticleer, to undertake experiments 
in the islands of the South Atlantic. His instructions 
were to proceed to the most southerly known accessible 
land, the South Shetlands, and there make a complete 
series of pendulum and magnetic observations. Antarctic 
discovery was no part of the programme and the ship was 
not fitted for navigation in the ice. The Chanticleer went 
beyond the South Shetlands to a position in 63° 43' S., 
6i°45'W., where Foster found land, went ashore and 
named Cape Possession. This appears to have been on 
