314 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



vicinity and greatly enhanced the difficulty of navigation with crews already fatigued. 

 Vincendon Dumoulin, D'Urville's hydrographer, refers to the South Orkneys in par- 

 ticularly forceful language: "Terre de deuil et de frimats, partout meme aspect, de 

 longues et steriles montagnes couvertes de neige. Voila les iles Powell." 



The French, however, saw only the northern coasts of the group, which in certain 

 parts of Coronation Island at least, are low, gently sloping and covered with an almost 

 continuous ice-sheet (a fact which was noted by D'Urville when he was off its north- 

 western corner), while its southern coast in contrast is generally more rugged and steep 

 and in consequence characterized by much more ice-free rock. 



Among his observations on the natural history of the group D'Urville records very 

 large numbers of whales, of which some were Humpbacks and others Right whales. 

 No seals are mentioned, but this is not surprising as he was generally so far off the land 

 that he must have been unable in any case to note their presence or absence. His record 

 of Right whales, however, the earliest notice of the presence of this species at the South 

 Orkneys, is of peculiar interest; for recently evidence has been found which suggests 

 that the old Right whalers themselves may have visited the group about this time, 

 1837-46, when the industry was at its height and great fleets of Sperm and Right 

 whalers roamed the Southern Ocean.^ It appears that the expedition on its return to 

 France learnt that certain whalers had brought rocks, said to be of volcanic origin, from 

 the South Orkneys to the Natural History Museum of Edinburgh.^ The French, who 

 had collected rocks which were certainly not volcanic from Weddell Island, were unable 

 to obtain any further information regarding the Edinburgh specimens ; and as recent 

 enquiries at the Royal Scottish Museum have been equally unproductive,^ the possi- 

 bility that the South Orkneys were visited by whalers at this early date must remain an 

 interesting speculation . 



THE FRENCH CHART 



D'Urville's chart of the South Orkneys (Fig. 6), which is the work of his hydro- 

 grapher, Vincendon Dumoulin, was published in 1847 in D'Urville's Atlas. In spite of 

 the fact that D'Urville complains of the inaccuracy of the 183 1 edition of Powell's chart 

 by Fildes (Fig. 5), of which he had a copy on board, and although one of his major reasons 

 for visiting the group was in order to make a good survey of it, the French chart, chiefly 

 because the southern coasts were left untouched, adds less than might be expected to 

 the existing chart of 1831. Besides his work on the northern coast-line of Laurie Island 

 and of Coronation Island, Dumoulin has roughly fixed the heights of various prominent 

 peaks and headlands throughout the group. He rightly attempts to re-unite the Cruchley's 

 and Dibdin's Islands of Weddell by a narrow isthmus, leaving both parts however un- 



1 Harmer, S. F., 1928, The History of Whaling, Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond., pp. 63-5. 



2 Voyage an Pole Sud, Geologic, etc., 1848, p. 32 (Paris). 



3 Dr A. C. Stephen, Keeper of the Natural History Department of the Royal Scottish Museum, 

 Edinburgh, has kindly searched the registers which cover this period and has also made enquiries at the 

 Geological Department of Edinburgh University, but has failed to trace these specimens or to find any 

 reference to them. 



