THE RENEWAL OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. 359 



The ofteiier I read the account of this iiinj;iiiticent expedition, the more 

 do I wish that another such commander, and another sucli expedition, 

 might be sent out from this country, provided with steam power and 

 all the appliances for investigation which the experience of the ])ast 

 fifty years would be able to suggest. With the same amount of good 

 luck, priceless additions would certainly be made to human knowledge. 



The Chullcnficr was the first, and up to the present time the only 

 steam vessel which has crossed the Antarctic Circle. She was wholly 

 unprotected for ice work. Her contributions towards the solution of 

 Antarctic problems belong for tlie most part to the deeper regions of 

 the Antarctic Ocean. During last year, some interesting observations 

 have been furnished by the Scotch and Norwegian whalers, who visited 

 the seas and islands immediately to the south of Cape Horn. 



After this brief review of Antarctic exploration we may ask: What 

 is the nature of the snow and ice-covered land observed at so many 

 points towards the South Pole? Is there a sixth continent within the 

 Antarctic Circle, or is the land nucleus, on which the massive ice cap 

 rests, merely a grou]) of lofty volcanic hills? This is a question still 

 asked and answered ditferently by naturalists and physical geographers. 

 To my mind there seems to be abundant evidence that there exists in 

 this region a vast extent of true continental land, the area of which is 

 greater than that of Australia, or nearly 4,000 OOO square miles. Of all 

 the bold southern explorers Ross and D'Urville are the only two who 

 have set foot on land within the Antarctic Circle. I can tind no record 

 of any ship having come to anchor within the Antarctic area, or indeed 

 south of the latitude of GOo south, although Ross met with shallow 

 enough soundings off Possession Island, and Wilkes found 11) fathoms 

 in Piner's Bay, Adelie Land. 



Ross reports the rocks of Possession, Franklin, and Cockburn Islands, 

 on which he landed, to be of volcanic origin, and in his dredgings to 

 the east of Victoria Land in depths from 200 to 400 fathoms, he like- 

 wise procured many volcanic rocks along with some fragments of a 

 gray granite.* All explorers report the islands to the south of Cape 

 Horn to be composed of volcanic rocks, but the recent soundings in 

 this vicinity by Mr. Bruce indicate the ])resence of metamorphic and 

 even sedimentary rocks, and Dr. Donald has brought home some inter- 

 esting tertiary fossils collected last year on Seymour Island by a Nor- 

 wegian whaler.t We have thus very good reasons for assuming that 



*McCormick compares the monutains of Victoria Land to those of Auverfino in 

 Frauce. His sketches are very different from those of Davis, in showing much more 

 geological strnctnre and much less snow and ice. See II. McCormick, " Voyages of 

 Discovery in Arctic and Antarctic Seas;" London, 1884, vol, i. 



1 Messrs. G. Sharman and Vj. T. Newton, F. R. s., pahcontologists to the Geological 

 Snrvey, state that the nine fossils from Seymour Island are of much interest from a 

 geological, point of view. They are weathered and somewhat denuded, indicating, 

 probably, a long exposure npon a seashore. They bolongto the following well-known 

 forms: Five to CucuUwa, one to Cjitlicrea, one to Xafien, and two are pieces of conif- 



