Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/28

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
24
POLAR EXPLORATION

is evidently a south-western extension of Termination Land, and when Coats Land was discovered by the Scottish expedition. Considerable scepticism is shown, especially in England, regarding the reported land of Morell and Johnson; but not in Scotland, for the investigations of the Scotia undoubtedly tend to suggest the presence of New South Greenland, as do also the observations made on board the Erebus and Terror in 1843. There is little doubt that Graham Land is joined to Coats Land by New South Greenland, and that the Weddell Sea does not extend very far to the south in that region. Again, there appears to be little doubt that Coats Land is continuous with Enderby Land, and that the latter, through Kemp Land and Wilhelm Land, is continuous with Wilkes Land. Wilkes described high land, and so did Biscoe; and these capes may well be the termination of mountain ranges more or less at right angles to the coast; but, generally speaking, the coast of Antarctica does not appear to be lofty on the Atlantic and Indian Ocean sides. Coats Land, for instance, is entirely iceclad and slopes gently towards the sea, mostly terminating in an ice cliff possibly 100 feet high and at several points sloping right down to sea-level. Several of those on board the Scotia confidently affirmed that they could see moun-