Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/273

] fathoms, and several small black stones, which came up with the lead, tended to confirm my conjectures of the volcanic origin of the newly-discovered land. Cape Adare at the time bore N. 52 W., distant about five or six miles.

It was a beautifully clear evening, and we had a most enchanting view of the two magnificent ranges of mountains, whose lofty peaks, perfectly covered with eternal snow, rose to elevations varying from seven to ten thousand feet above the level of the ocean. The glaciers that filled their intervening valleys, and which descended from near the mountain summits, projected in many places several miles into the sea, and terminated in lofty perpendicular cliffs. In a few places the rocks broke through their icy covering, by which alone we could be assured that land formed the nucleus of this, to appearance, enormous iceberg.

The range of mountains extending to the N.W. was called Admiralty Range, of which the higher and more conspicuous were distinguished by the names of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty under whose orders I was serving. Mount Minto, Mount Adam, and Mount Parker were named after the Right Honourable Earl Minto, the first Lord; Vice- Admiral Sir Charles Adam, K.C.B., now Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies; and Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, Bart., G.C.B., and Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, the two senior naval lords; and I cannot forbear here expressing the deep gratitude I must ever feel