ANTARCTICA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 11, 11 December 1935, Page 10

ANTARCTICA.

A VIVID DESCRIPTION. A land where all living tilings must struggle against a fierce wind with an average velocity of nearly 50 miles an hour, was described by Mr C. Laseron, who was a member of the Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14, when lecturing to members of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. ilr Laseron said that Adelie Land, where the expedition made a base, was probably the windiest portion of the earth. Records kept showed an average daily wind velocity of 48.5 miles an hour. Some of the gusts in the fierce Antarctic storms reached the almost incredible velocity of 250 miles an hour. These gales were a constant handicap to tho world of the expedition. To take a simple instance, it was impossible to find any fabric which would serve as a flag, because no material ever woven would withstand the Antarctic gales. In the end the flags were made of metal. For most of the year, said Mr Laseron, the Antarctic was a deserted land. No living thing could find subsistence in that waste of ice and snow, but every year during the brief summer millions of sea birds, penguins, and seals, came ashore. The wind did not worry them. After the brief breeding season they went out to sea again. Dn the other hand, added Mr Laseron, there was an astonishing wealth of marine life below ten fathoms. The flora and fauna of the Antarctic sea bottom were as varied and as abundant as in tropical seas. Starfish, sea urchins, shellfish, and sea spiders were among the most common forms of animal life.