GEOGEAPHIC CONQUESTS OF THE m^ETEENTH CENTURY. 425 



ice pressure, to be carried at the will of the ice floes, provc^d \-ery 

 successful, and he gained latitude 86^ U\ which was only eclii)sed hv 

 Abruzzi in 1900. 



ANTARCTIC'S. 



Around the South Pole there hang-s an unexplored mass twice the 

 size of Europe. It niay ho a vast continent or an antarctic ocean; the 

 problem is yet unsolved. 



The names that shine brightly in the history of South Polar work 

 during- the century liegan with Captaiii Smith, who discovered the 

 South Shetland Islands in 1S16. Weddell, several 3-ears later, found an 

 active volcano on these islands and reached as far south as 74 degrees 

 but discovered there no land. Endcrliy Land and Graham Land wore 



Fig. 5.— Autarctiu Kogions as known in 19(i0. 



seen first by Biscoe in 1832. Wilkes in 1810 discovered the land 

 named after him, and Sir flames Ross, of previous Arctic fame, about 

 the same time discovered Victoria Land, and upon it beheld tAVo active 

 volcanoes pouring forth flaming lava amidst the snow, and named them 

 Erebus and Terror, after his two ships. In January, 1812, he reached 

 farthest south— 78 degrees— a record that was not eclipsed until 1899, 

 when Borchgrevink reached 78^ 50' b}^ sledge. 



No white men had ever passed the winter within the Antarctic Circle 

 until De Gerlache and his crew in 1898 wintered on board theii- ship, 

 the Belgiea, which they had l^anked with snow. The following winter 

 Borchgrevink with his crew lived on the antarctic ice. 



