278 DECEPTIVE APPEARANCES. [1840. 



his expedition to the south pole, does not even affect any- 

 where to conceal his expectations of the discovery of large 

 bodies of land.* Captain Balleny was expressly sent, by his 

 principals, in search of land ; t and the instructions of the 

 Board of Admiralty to Captain Ross, clearly show that land 

 of great extent was supposed to exist in the neighborhood of 

 the south pole.$ 



Icebergs were first encountered by the American squadron, 

 in latitude 61° 08' 8., and longitude 162° 32' E. Expectation 

 was all the while on the quivive ; and on the 13th of January, 

 Lieutenant Ringgold, in command of the Porpoise, then in lati- 

 tude 65° 08' S.j and longitude 163° E., from the great number 

 of sea-elephants that were visible, the discoloration of the water, 

 the dark earth-colored veins and dusty appearance of the ice- 

 bergs, and the hoarse cry of innumerable penguins distinctly 

 heard above the roar of the ocean, fancied he had discovered land, 

 and thought he saw something like distant mountains to the 

 south-east. Soundings of one hundred fathoms, however, 

 gave no bottom, and the dense masses of floe-ice prevented 

 any nearer approach. This was undoubtedly a mere decep- 

 tion, and the objects seen must have been clouds of condensed 

 vapor — not an unusual appearance in these high latitudes — 

 hovering over the margin of the ice, and unable to ascend 

 beyond a certain height in the clear cold space above. In 

 confirmation of this supposition, it may be mentioned, that 

 on the 6th of March, 1841, Captain Ross sailed directly over 

 and through the mass of mountain land, which Lieutenant 

 Ringgold, no doubt sincerely, believed he had discovered.^ 



But on the 16th of January, appearances of land, much 



* Expedition au Pole Austral, passim. 



f Account of Balleny's Discovery ; Athcneum (London), November, 1839. 



$ Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Region?, 

 Vol. I. (Introduction) p. 2.">. 



<j After his return from the Antarctic regions — in April, 1840-^-Captain Wilkes 

 addressed a letter to Captain Ross, detailing his experience, and accompanied 

 with a copy of a chart, showing the discoveries of the American squadron. 

 The supposed land of Lieutenant Ringgold was also included, and not distin- 

 guished from the other discoveries, though marked as Balleny's land on the 



