284 SUBSEQUENT VOYAGES. [1840 



the long nights of winter, and literally and truly sheds its 

 light upon the physical construction of the globe. Captain 

 Ross might well congratulate himself upon the discovery of 

 this beacon-fire, standing, as it were, at the very outposts of 

 the world. 



Pursuing their westerly course still further, the English 

 vessels reached the highest point of southern latitude, in 

 78° 04', where they found the way blocked by a perpendicu- 

 lar wall or cliff of ice, over one thousand feet thick, from one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, and four hun- 

 dred and fifty miles in length, along whose base were scatter- 

 ed wide fields of blocks and bergs of ice, which rose and fell 

 with the restless waves that spent their fury in vain against 

 the frozen bulwarks that confined them. For many a weary 

 mile, the Erebus and her consort coasted along this ice-bound 

 shore, to which Captain Ross gave the name of Victoria Land, 

 inside the ice-pack through which they forced their way. 

 Sixty-three days were spent to the south of the Antarctic 

 circle, and the approach of the winter season — Captain Ross 

 having in vain sought for a place where he might remain till 

 the ensuing spring — alone compelled them to return to a 

 warmer climate. On the 28th of February, they caught the 

 last glimpse of Victoria Land as they bore away to the north. 

 In their subsequent route, they crossed over the land supposed to 

 have been seen from the Porpoise, and the tracks of the Amer- 

 ican vessels, and on the 6th of August following, came to 

 anchor within the head lands of the Derwent. 



Two voyages were subsequently made by Captain Ross in 

 these regions. In the winter of 1841-42, he penetrated as 

 far south as 78° 10', but was less successful than on the for- 

 mer occasion. At an early period he was entangled in an ice- 

 pack through which he pushed his vessels, and from which he 

 never emerged for a thousand miles. The barrier of ice was 

 traced ten degrees further to the east, when the winter again 

 set in. In 1842—3 the third and last attempt was made to 

 reach the pole, but this was attended with still less success ; 

 and the persevering and undaunted navigator was obliged to 



