THE PROBLEM OF THE ANTARCTIC ZONE 429 



./ing in latitude 59 degrees three high rocky islets, with a lofty 

 peak which he named Freezeland Point. Far to the east was seen 

 a long coast-line with snow-capped mountains, while other lands 

 were sighted farther to the south. The ships proceeded to explore 

 the seas in the neighborhood of these new lands, but a repetition of 

 the trials and difficulties of the previous year met the explorers. 

 Whichever way they sailed they encountered ice, either in massive 

 bergs, or lines of cliffs, miles in length. On February 6, 1775, the 

 cold hostility of the region daunted even the brave heart of Captain 

 Cook. He decided to turn back, writing in his log: "The risk one 

 runs in exploring a coast in these unknown and icy seas is so great, 

 that I can be bold enough to say that no man will ever venture 

 further than I have done, and that the lands which lie to the south 

 will never be explored." 



Modern exploration has shown that Cook was hasty in this 

 assertion, but his opinion carried weight enough to check for many 

 years all attempts to solve the mystery of the Antarctic. In 1819 

 Captain William Smith, driven southward by a storm, discovered 

 and named the South Shetland Islands, and these were soon after- 

 wards explored by a British war-ship, and found to form a scattered 

 group between 61 and 63 degrees south. Powell, an English skip- 

 per, met with land farther south in 1821, naming it Trinity Land; 

 Palmer, an American, sailed along a coast to which he gave the 

 name of Palmer's Land; and Bellinghausen, a Russian, soon after 

 located Alexander's Land, still farther south. 



The seas in which these finds were made were well filled with 

 whales and seals, and oil-seekers soon began to make their way to 

 that region, while Captain Weddell was sent out by an English 

 trading firm on a voyage of discovery and reached latitude 74 

 degrees 15 minutes. Other discoveries in this period were of 

 Enderby's Land, Graham's Land, and Adelaide Islands, but Wed- 

 dell's record remained the "farthest south." 



These private excursions to the south were followed somewhat 



