THE ANTARCTIC QUESTION MACHAT, 457 



Mount Sabine to beyond latitude 80° S. (McMurdo Strait) ; the 

 study of the regions discovered and of the littoral (Mount Melbourne, 

 Mount Discover}", etc.) ; a fearless sledge journey for 300 kilometers 

 over the interior of Victoria Land, a feat unique in austral regions; 

 the wintering at latitude 78° S. ; the point extended by Captain 

 Scott, corresponding with longitude 1G0°, Paris meridian, as far as 

 latitude 82° 17' S. (south polar record) ; the study of Ross's great 

 barrier and its connections with the adjoining lands; and, finally, an 

 exceptional number of observations — such are some of the most im- 

 portant achievements that give an idea of the importance of this 

 expedition. Scott, as also did Von Drygalski, added balloon obser- 

 vations to direct observations. He likewise studied, either going or 

 returning, the southern ocean north of the Antarctic Circle, in the 

 latitudes reached by Dumont d'Urville (Adelie Land) and by Wilkes, 

 and expressed a negative opinion as to the existence of Wilkes's Land 

 which no one will deem unjustifiable." 



WEST ANTARCTIC LANDS AND LITTORAL. 



Several attempts have been made in France and abroad to bring 

 together a general account of the results obtained by antarctic expe- 

 ditions * or to discuss one or more of the important questions that 

 have arisen,^ but the best general descriptions are rather old, and the 

 authors were not enabled to profit by all the narratives that have 

 recently appeared. 



It is with respect to all the lands south of America — that is, to use 

 the name suggested by O. Nordenskjold, West Antarctide — that the 

 Belgica, the Antarctic, and the Frangais expeditions have brought 

 together the greatest amount of accurate information. We can now 

 draw the physical geographical contours of this region, not only by 

 following the narratives of the voyages, the scientific reports, the 

 photographs, but also by using the surveys or charts made on the 

 spot, principally those by the staff of the Antarctic (Andersson: 

 Carte geographique de la Terre de Graham a 1/5,000,000 et a 

 1/200,000) and by the members of the Frangais expedition (leves de 

 I'archipel de Palmer a 1/400,000, de I'lle Wandel a 1/200,000, etc.). 



«» He declares that Wilkes's Land is an illusion. Scott : The Voyage of the 

 Discovery. Loudon, 1905, 2 vols. Translated and published in French, 1908. 

 The scientific reports are in course of publication. A summary of results has 

 been published by several members of the expedition in the Geogr. Journ., 1905, 

 pp. 353—105. Captain Scott's account contains two appendixes on the geologic 

 observations and austral fauna. 



6 Zimmermanu : Terres, climat et glaces antarctiques. Ann. de Geogr., 1902, 

 p. 385. 



<'Supan: Das antarktische Klima., Pet. Mit.. 1901, p. 128. Ch. Rabot : La 

 glaciation autarctique, d'apres les recentes explorations. La Geogr., 1907, p. 385. 



