Antarctic Continent . 
53 
ice fastens to the land, stretching to seaward a mile or 
upwards, and supplying the surrounding sea with streams 
of ice and heavy bergs. The circuit is about seven or 
eight miles, and the highest part, which is nearly in the 
centre of the island, is about 350 feet high. The sea for 
some distance had moderate soundings, and two large 
icebergs were aground in the offing, whose height was 
not less than 150 feet. These, no doubt, were thrown 
off from the field, and the numerous rents and deep fis¬ 
sures perceived in it, showed that others were about to 
follow. 
In looking at the numerous fine strata in the face of 
these icy cliffs, one almost forgets it is ice, from the well- 
defined lines which separate each stratum; and this is 
caused by a thin coating of red volcanic ashes, which, I 
presume, is blown from the naked rock in the summer 
season. 
On the whole, one would expect in a climate like this 
to find the land more encumbered with snow than it 
really is, lying as it does within the region of eternal 
frost. 
The reduction of glaciers in the Tyrol mountains is 
caused by the heat of the valleys into which they gradu¬ 
ally descend, together with the heat which the earth must 
naturally imbibe from the effects of the solar rays upon 
the earth’s surface, and acting upon it, less or more, in 
the manner in which a metallic wire, heated at one end 
or in the middle, would transfuse its latent influence to 
its poles. But here no such effect can operate; for from 
the time we entered the Antarctic circle until we re¬ 
crossed it the thermometer never stood above the 
freezing point, and was often down to 14°, 13°, and even 
12° Fahrenheit, and that in the middle of summer v 
When near in with the main land, neither rents nor 
fissures nor slips were discernible in the valleys; the. 
