TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM ii 



by these men. In the smallest and craziest ships they plunged 

 boldly into stormy ice-strewn seas ; again and again they 

 narrowly missed disaster; their vessels were wracked and 

 strained and leaked badly, their crews were worn out with 

 unceasing toil and decimated by scurvy. Yet in spite of 

 inconceivable discomforts they struggled on, and it does not 

 appear that any one of them ever turned his course until he 

 was driven to do so by hard necessity. One cannot read the 

 simple, unaffected narratives of these voyages without being 

 assured of their veracity, and without being struck with the 

 wonderful pertinacity and courage which they display. 



In the light of subsequent events, it is convenient to pause 

 again at the close of Balleny's voyage to consider the further 

 extent of Antarctic discovery. It must now have appeared to 

 men that, after all, the South Polar area was occupied by land, 

 and that the coast of this land clung very persistently to the 

 Antarctic Circle. South of the Pacific, Cook and Bellings- 

 hausen had shown a dip towards the Pole, and south of the 

 Atlantic Weddell had indicated another deep bay; but south 

 of the Indian Ocean and of Australia it must have seemed 

 highly probable that the coastline followed the Circle with 

 little divergence. It can well be imagined, therefore, that 

 explorers who were about to sail to the south in this direction 

 must have been strongly disposed to expect land in that 

 latitude. 



At about this time there sprang up a new motive to 

 encourage Polar exploration, in the shape of terrestrial mag- 

 netism. The development of this science had gradually 

 converted it into a subject of great interest, its practical 

 importance in connection with the navigation of ships was 

 now fully realised, and it was known that no complete study 

 could be made of its phenomena without extensive observa- 

 tions in the Polar Regions. Amongst the scientific men who 

 devoted their energies to achieve a more general recognition 

 of these facts were Humboldt and Sir Edward Sabine, and as 

 a result of their labours in 1838 the British Association 

 petitioned the Government to send a scientific expedition to 



