THE EARLIEST EXPLORERS 3 



The history of Antarctic discovery may be divided 

 at the outset into two categories. In the first of these 

 I would include the numerous voyagers who, without 

 any definite idea of the form or conditions of the southern 

 hemisphere, set their course toward the South, to make 

 what landfall they could. These need only be mentioned 

 briefly before passing to the second group, that of 

 Antarctic travellers in the proper sense of the term, 

 who, with a knowledge of the form of the earth, set out 

 across the ocean, aiming to strike the Antarctic monster 

 in the heart, if fortune favoured them. 



We must always remember with gratitude and admir- 

 ation the first sailors who steered their vessel through 

 storms and mists, and increased our knowledge of the 

 lands of ice in the South. People of the present day, 

 who are so well supplied with information about the 

 most distant parts of the earth, and have all our modern 

 means of communication at their command, find it diffi- 

 cult to understand the intrepid courage that is implied 

 by the voyages of these men. 



They shaped their course toward the dark unknown, 

 constantly exposed to being engulfed and destroyed by 

 the vague, mysterious dangers that lay in wait for 

 them somewhere in that dim vastness. 



The beginnings were small, but by degrees much was 

 won. One stretch of country after another was dis- 

 covered and subjected to the power of man. Knowledge 

 of the appearance of our globe became ever greater and 



