430 THE PROBLEM OF THE ANTARCTIC ZONE 



later by three important government expeditions, a French one 

 under D'Urville in 1838, an English one under Sir James Ross in 

 1839, and an American one under Captain Wilkes in 1840. These 

 added materially to our knowledge of the far south. D'Urville 

 was checked by a bank of ice extending for three hundred miles east 

 and west; but Ross, who made three voyages in 1839-43, discovered 

 and named Victoria Land and traced its coast from 71 degrees to 

 78 degrees 10 minutes south, the highest latitude reached to that 

 time in the Antarctic. On this land was a lofty range of mountains 

 containing two volcanoes, which he named after his ships, "Erebus" 

 and "Terror." Wilkes discovered a long coast line, which appar- 

 ently extended from Enderby's Land to Ringold's Knoll, being of 

 such extent that he described it as an Antarctic continent. His 

 discovery, long questioned, has since been confirmed. 



For fifty years after the work of these expeditions the Antarctic 

 region was neglected by explorers, the first attempt after those 

 named to discover its mysteries being made by a Belgian expedition 

 in 1897. The story of this expedition, on which Dr. Cook went as 

 surgeon, is told in an earlier chapter, and we must pass on to a 

 British expedition which set out in 1898, under the leadership of 

 Captain C. E. Borchgrevinck, a Norwegian, who had voyaged into 

 the Antarctic on a whaler in 1894, and had landed on South Victoria 

 Land and Possession Island. He was one of the first to set foot on 

 Antarctic soil, and reached as far south as 74 degrees 10 minutes. 

 He had also discovered a lichen growing on the rocks of Cape 

 Adare, the first living thing found in the Antarctic. 



His present expedition, financed by Sir George Newnes, an 

 English capitalist, whom he had infected with his enthusiasm, set 

 sail in the "Southern Cross," a small barque-rigged steamer of 276 

 tons, built by the builder of the "Fram," under the command of Cap- 

 tain Bernhard Jensen. With stores and equipment for some years, a 

 crew of Norwegians, an efficient scientific staff, and a large kennel 

 of Arctic dogs, she left St. Katherine's Dock on August 22, i! 

 amid much popular demonstration, and sailed for Tasmania. 



