6 THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH POLE 



the southern ice-pack for any considerable distance, and 

 to bring reports of the immense, flat-topped Antarctic 

 icebergs. 



In 1756 the Spanish trading-ship Leon came home 

 and reported high, snow-covered land in lat. 55 S. to 

 the east of Cape Horn. The probability is that this 

 was what we now know by the name of South Georgia. 

 The Frenchman, Marion-Dufresne, discovered, in 1772, 

 the Marion and Crozet Islands. In the same year 

 Joseph de Kerguelen-Tremarec another Frenchman 

 -reached Kerguelen Land. 



This concludes the series of expeditions that I have 

 thought it proper to class in the first group. ' Antarc- 

 tica," the sixth continent itself, still lay unseen and 

 untrodden. But human courage and intelligence were 

 now actively stirred to lift the veil and reveal the many 

 secrets that were concealed within the Antarctic Circle. 



Captain James Cook one of the boldest and most 

 capable seamen the world has known opens the series 

 of Antarctic expeditions properly so called. The British 

 Admiralty sent him out with orders to discover the 

 great southern continent, or prove that it did not exist. 

 The expedition, consisting of two ships, the Resolution 

 and the Adventure, left Plymouth on July 13, 1772. 

 After a short stay at Madeira it reached Cape Town on 

 October 30. Here Cook received news of the discovery 

 of Kerguelen and of the Marion and Crozet Islands. 

 In the course of his voyage to the south Cook passed 



