70 
FROM CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO SYDNEY 
to westward of Cape Challenger presented an extraordinary combination of steep promontories 
and rocky pinnacles rising to heights of over a thousand feet, above which the forked summits 
of Mount Ross are seen towering into the sky. If haply it were the custom to name newly- 
discovered countries from observation of their most characteristic feature, Kerguelen should be 
called the Land of 
Forked Mountains, for 
the island presents nu¬ 
merous examples of 
mountain-tops split into 
two conical summits of 
nearly equal size. The 
frequent occurrence of 
CAPE CHALLENGER. 
such dual summits is probably connected with the structure of the rock-formation composing 
the higher mountains of Kerguelen. This formation differs in every respect from the material 
—evidently of more recent origin—which constitutes the terraced hills that form a no less 
conspicuous feature of the island between Christmas Harbour and Royal Sound. 
At sunset we took our last farewell of this remarkable island, its serrated hill ranges 
then sharply defined against the bright evening sky. The impressions left on our minds by 
this barren, deserted land were nevertheless as pleasant and lasting, in some respects even 
more so, than those made by countries more favoured by nature. Kerguelen, to us, had the 
j charm of a land as yet 
untouched by the hand 
of man. Free to roam 
about, a veritable king 
of the earth, the tra¬ 
veller, the sportsman, 
or the explorer enjoys 
here the rare oppor¬ 
tunity of watching Nature in her own various moods, provided always that he has secured a 
safe retreat to the deck of a ship stored with the comforts of civilised life. If by chance he 
should be left behind in the wilderness, the erewhile attractive smile of the savage beauty soon 
turns to a cruel frown, and he falls a victim to exposure, starvation, or accidental injury. 
The “ Challenger’s ” course was now direct for the regions of the South Pole. The 
portion of the Southern Ocean between Kerguelen and Macdonald Islands forms a portion of 
the shortest track from England to Melbourne on the principle of “great circle sailing,” 
and some of the earliest quick passages recorded were made by this route. After approaching 
Tristan d Acunha, the track follows the 50th parallel for the greater portion of the distance 
between the Cape and Melbourne; but the frequent danger of meeting icebergs, together with 
the misty and stormy weather almost constant in this latitude, compels ships to make a safer, 
hough a little longer passage, nearer to the 40th parallel. The islands we next intended 
MACDONALD ISLANDS. 
