ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. 303 



there is such a delicate sympathy between them that the electric wires 

 there manifest the same daily and yearly periods of activity as those 

 that mark the auroras. The current that reveals itself in fire in the 

 higher regions of the atmosphere is precisely the same current that 

 phignes the operator in his office. Therefore, in the records of these 

 troublesome earth currents, now being accumulated at the observatory 

 by Mr. Ellery, we are collecting valuable data, which may possibly 

 enable the physicist to count the unseen auroras of the Antarctic, to 

 calculate their periods of activity and lethargy, aud, again, to check 

 these with our seasons. But it need hardly be said that the observa- 

 tions which may be made in the higher latitudes and directly under 

 the rays of the Aurora Australis will have the greater value, because 

 it is only near the zone of maximum auroral intensity that the phenomena 

 are manifested in all their aspects. In this periodicity of the southern 

 aurora I have named the last scientific problem to which I had to direct 

 your attention, and I would point out that if its determination should 

 give to us any clew to the changes in the Australian seasons which 

 would enable us to forecast their mutations in any degree, it would give 

 to us," in conducting those great interests of the country which depend 

 for their success upon the annual rain-fall, an advantage which would 

 be worth many times over all the cost of the expeditions necessary to 

 establish it. 



Finally, there is a commercial object to be served by Antarctic ex- 

 ploration, aud it is to be found in the establishment of a whaling trade 

 between this region and Australia. The price of whalebone has now 

 risen to the large sum of £2,000 a ton, which adds greatly to the possi- 

 bilitiesof securing to the whalers a profitable return. Sir James Ross aud 

 his oflicers have left it on record that the whale of commerce was seen 

 by them in these seas, beyond the possibility of a mistake. They have 

 stated that the animals were large, aud very tame, aud that they could 

 have been caught in large numbers. Within the last few years whales 

 have been getting very scarce in the Arctic, and in consequence of this 

 two of the most successful of the whaling masters of the present day, 

 Capts. David and John Gray, of Peterhead, Scotland, have devoted 

 some labor to collecting all the data relating to this question, aud they 

 have consulted such survivors of Koss's expedition as are still available. 

 They h ave published the results of their investigations in a pamphlet, 

 in which they urge the establishment of the fishery strongly, and they 

 state their conclusions in the following words. They say: "We think 

 it is established beyond doubt that whales of a species similar to the 

 right or Greenland whale, found in high northern latitudes, exist in 

 great numbers in the Antarctic seas, aud that the establishment of a 

 whale fishery within that area would be attended with successful and 

 profitable results." It is not necessary for me to add anything to the 

 opinion of such experts in the business. All I desire to say is that if 

 such a fishery were created, with its headquarters in Melbourne, it 



