TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 255 



of from 300 to 350 tons burthen, well manned, and provisioned 

 for a stay in the Antarctic regions of, say, three years. It was 

 of the utmost importance that land-journeys should be made, 

 and the expedition should therefore be thoroughly equipped for 

 that purpose. It would start with enormous advantages over 

 all previous expeditions, since its leaders could utilise the 

 accumulated experiences of the numerous Arctic expeditions 

 which had set out during the past fifty years, while all Antarctic 

 navigators had hitherto made their voyages in sailing-vessels. 

 The exploring ships should, if possible, be manned from the 

 Eoyal Navy, because thoroughly disciplined men could thus be 

 procured. 



The most successful of the attempts which had been made 

 to penetrate into the inner Antarctic region were those of 

 Weddell and Eoss. The former attained the latitude of 

 74° 15' S. on the 35th meridian of west longitude, and had 

 still a clear sea before him; but neither d'Urville nor Eoss, 

 sailing down the same meridian, had been able to reach the 

 66th parallel of south latitude. 



Judging from the experiences of Balleny and Eoss the sea 

 to the south of New Zealand was more open. Balleny, on 

 the meridian of 170° E., reached the latitude of 69° S., and 

 there found an open sea. Eoss, sailing on the same course, 

 discovered South Victoria Land, and reached a latitude of 

 78° 10' S. in longitude 161° 27' W., when his further progress 

 southward was stopped by the ice-barrier. The route traversed 

 by Eoss in his first voyage thus seemed to offer the most prac- 

 tical entrance to the inner Antarctic region, and any exploring 

 expedition which might be despatched should be instructed to 

 follow this route, and endeavour to supplement Eoss's dis- 

 coveries. It would be most important for the expedition to 

 try and find a harbour in which to winter. It might be objected 

 that Eoss had failed to find one ; but he had only coasted 

 along South Victoria Land once, and in his sailing-vessels 

 he was at the mercy of the winds and the waves, while 

 with steamers a much closer scrutiny could be made, and it 

 was not unreasonable to hope that a coast-line extending over 

 nearly nine degrees of latitude might contain a harbour. Eoss 

 had been unable to pierce the ice-barrier, but this did not 

 prove that it was permanent, and material changes might have 

 occurred in the ice-masses since the date of his visit. 



The cost of the expedition would depend entirely upon the 

 scale on which it was equipped ; but, in any case, it would not 

 exceed the united resources of the Australian and New Zea- 

 land Governments, which, the author suggested, should be 

 invited by the Association to co-operate in despatching an ex- 

 pedition to the South Polar regions at their joint expense. 

 If the active support of the Imperial Government could be 



