FIRST ANTARCTIC NIGHT 405 
for a lightly built steel vessel to go, and all along her route, 
the soundings, taken at frequent intervals, showed an 
unexpectedly great depth, averaging about 3,000 fathoms. 
On December 16th the farthest south point was reached 
in 64° 15' S. and 54 0 20' E., where the depth was 2,540 
fathoms, and Enderby Land should have been only 102 
miles to the south. The dredge and trawl came up loaded 
with stones which had been dropped by the melting ice- 
bergs, and when examined these proved to consist of con- 
tinental rocks, granite, gneiss and schist, with one huge 
block of red sandstone weighing a quarter of a ton. En- 
derby Land, if these came thence, was evidently not a vol- 
canic island. More than 180 icebergs were counted in 
sight at once, the largest ten miles long, the highest ris- 
ing to 192 feet above sea-level. At that time the crew of 
the Belgica were beginning to work hard in the attempt 
to escape from a second winter in the ice, and the South- 
ern Cross was lying in Hobart ready to start for Victoria 
Land. The Valdivia proceeded to Kerguelen, where a 
few days were spent, and then she continued her sound- 
ings and dredgings in the Indian Ocean, returning to 
Europe by the Suez Canal, and reaching Hamburg on 
April 30th, 1899, after a cruise of the most gratifying suc- 
cess. 
