A wall of rock of very ordinary appearance is not usually reckoned among things capable of attracting the attention of the human eye to any marked extent; nevertheless, we three stood and gazed at it, as though we had something of extraordinary beauty and interest before us.  The explanation is very simple, if we remember the old saying about the charm of variety.  A sailor, who for months has seen nothing but sea and sky, will lose himself in contemplation of a little islet, be it never so barren and desolate.  To us, who for nearly a year had been staring our eyes out in a dazzling white infinity of snow and ice, it was indeed an experience to see once more a bit of the earth’s crust.  That this fragment was as poor and bare as it could be was not taken into consideration at the moment.

The mere sight of the naked rock was, however, only an anticipatory pleasure.  A more substantial one was the feeling of again being able to move on ground that afforded a sure and trustworthy foothold.  It is possible that we behaved rather like children on first reaching bare land.  One of us, in any case, found immense enjoyment in rolling one big block after another down the steep slopes of the nunatak.  At any rate, the sport had the interest of novelty.

This little peak was built up of very heterogenous materials.  As the practical result of our visit, we brought away a fairly abundant collection of specimens of all the rocks to be found there.  Not being a specialist, I cannot undertake any classification of the specimens.  It will be the task of geologists to deal with them, and to obtain if possible some information as to the structure of the country.  I will only mention that some of the stones were so heavy that they must certainly have contained metallic ore of one kind or another.  On returning to camp that evening, we tried them with the compass-needle, and it showed very marked attraction in the case of one or two of the specimens.  These must, therefore, contain iron-ore.

This spur, which had been severely handled by ice-pressure and the ravages of time, offered a poor chance of finding what we coveted most —­ namely, fossils —­ and the most diligent search proved unsuccessful in this respect.  From finds that have been made in other parts of Antarctica it is known that in former geological periods —­ the Jurassic epoch —­ even this desolate continent possessed a rich and luxurious vegetation.  The leader of the Swedish expedition to Graham Land, Dr. Nordenskjold, and his companion, Gunnar Andersson, were the first to make this exceedingly interesting and important discovery.

While it did not fall to our lot to furnish any proof of the existence of an earlier flora in King Edward Land, we found living plants of the most primitive form.  Even on that tiny islet in the ocean of snow the rock was in many places covered with thick moss.  How did that moss come there?  Its occurrence might, perhaps, be quoted in support of the hypothesis of the genesis of organic life from, dead matter.  This disputed question must here be left open, but it may be mentioned in the same connection that we found the remains of birds’ nests in many places among the rocks.  Possibly the occupants of these nests may have been instrumental in the conveyance of the moss.