antarcticus, were breeding there; and doubtless, also, that anomaly amongst birds, the Chionis, the eggs of which form such a desideratum in ornithology; and I regret much not having had an opportunity of landing in search of them. To the S.W. of this strait, we discovered more land, commencing with a low black ledge, singularly marked by waved lines, running south, resembling streams of lava, and the only portion of the land without a vestige of snow. From this, bold and rugged cliffs arose, covered with snow, their steep, black escarpments only appearing through it, the shores being girt by an icy barrier. The extremity of the land seen terminated in a bluff, black-looking headland, bearing W. by S. I obtained a mass of hornstone, imbedded in a layer of blue mud, from a piece of ice, alongside which we watered the ship. As I had no opportunity of landing for specimens, I was in the habit of examining the stomachs of most of the birds which I shot and preserved for the Government Collection; and found the penguins my best geological collectors, for their crops were frequently filled with pebbles; more especially the large species, Aptenodytes antarctica. In one of these individuals I found upwards of a pound of small fragments of rocks; comprising, basalt, greenstone, porphyry, granite, vesicular lava, quartz, scoriæ, and pumice; but none of them ever brought me a vestige of aqueous rocks,—all were volcanic,—and such the appearance of the Antarctic lands, even at a distance, would proclaim them to be.[1] We saw three species of
- ↑ As the absence of the sedimentary class of rocks may appear unfavourable to the existence of an Antarctic continent, it must be understood, that my remarks have reference only to the land seen, and that merely the coast-line. Aqueous formations may exist in the interior, beneath the covering of ice and snow; but, it is not the less remarkable, that the land, generally, in the Antarctic regions should present so strikingly the volcanic character. Whilst within the Arctic circle, although the trappean rocks are not excluded, which the active volcano of Jan Mayen itself attests; yet, the sedimentary formations have a vast preponderance over the igneous. Spitzbergen and its islands forming the northernmost known land, which I had myself an oppor-
