Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/38



the conditions of low temperature which have been described, even if there is only a very slight snowfall in the heart of Antarctica, there must be a constant accumulation of snow upon the land. This snow by its own incumbent weight gets compressed into ice, which fills corries and glens, and covers any flat land there may be with a great depth of solid ice. But the accumulation cannot go on indefinitely, and the ice begins to flow, first down the steeper glens, then down even the least inclined stretches of the land, forced by the great mass of ice always accumulating from behind. It may even get pushed over flat if not actually rising ground, and eventually reaches the sea. If the sea be shallow it may push out a considerable distance from the land, ultimately floating free from the bottom. Fresh snow is all the while falling, and adding to the whole. Blizzards come and drive the powdery loose snow from one place to another, and the hard-driving wind binds the powder