Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/460

416 equalled magnificence and splendour as would baffle all power of language to portray or give the faintest conception of. One very remarkable peak, in shape like a huge crystal of quartz, rose to the height of 7867 feet; another to 9096; and a third to 8444 feet above the level of the sea. From these peaks ridges descended to the coast, terminating abruptly in bold capes and promontories, whose steep escarpments, affording attachment to neither ice nor snow, alone showed the jet black lava or basalt which reposed beneath the mantle of eternal frost.

On the following day I landed on a small island (Possession Island), lying a little to the eastward of the main land in latitude 71° 56′ S., and longitude 171° 7′ E., which I found to be composed of a volcanic conglomerate, vesicular lava, and basalt, containing imbedded crystals, and rising to the height of about three hundred feet.

As we pulled round the island in the boat, we passed a beautiful little recess in the prismatic columns of basalt, presenting a miniature resemblance to Fingal's Cave in Staffa. The spot on which we effected a landing was ice-girt, between which and the foot of the hill a colony of penguins (a new species) had formed a rookery, and were busily engaged rearing their young. They were in such countless multitudes, that it was with difficulty we could make our way through them; and their clamour baffled all description. The young were covered with down, but no eggs were found. The spot on which they were breeding was spongy and elastic, forming a rich bed of guano of great depth, the accumulation of ages. I shot a Lestris antarcticus, flying overhead, which was of smaller size, and much greyer about the head and neck than the Auckland specimens.

On the 28th, in latitude 77° 31′, and longitude 167° 1′, the burning volcano (Mount Erebus) was discovered, covered with ice and snow from its base to its summit, from which a dense column of black smoke towered high