362 MISCELLANEOUS LETTEES, 1886-1897 



got down to where we did and that if we had tried a little 

 to the West of where we did we might have got South with- 

 out entering the pack at all. Again in the longitude where 

 Weddell sailed South to 74 30' and returned (owing to late- 

 ness of season) from a clear open sea without seeing even the 

 pack, Ross in that same longitude met in 63 15' a pack of 

 old ice so heavy that he could not even enter it. So my 

 advice is to subscribe to the Colonists sending a ship to 

 look out for the soft places, previous to sending properly 

 equipped exploring vessels to do battle with the ice. The 

 whole circumnavigation could easily be accomplished in one 

 season, and one Naturalist to use the tow-net and to dredge 

 at moderate depths would be able to bottle up a splendid 

 harvest of pelagic life. But I do not envy the voyagers. A 

 more desolate, boisterous, dangerous sea does not exist, 

 harassed throughout summer by gales, fogs, and snowstorms. 

 I find that we were once six weeks without getting an obser- 

 vation of the sun ! I suggest that our Government should 

 subscribe the 5000 in aid of scientific objects and make it 

 clearly understood that it accepts no responsibility. 



To Ayerst Hooker 



Oct. 4, 1895. 



We went to the Brit. Assoc. Meeting at Ipswich for three 

 days, the first I had been at since 1882, the occasion being 

 the inauguration of a special section for Botany, of which 

 Dyer was President. 



The only other thing that interested me was the further- 

 ance of another Antarctic Expedition, upon which I had to 

 speak, as the only surviving officer of that of 1839-43 ! 

 I was in fact the ' Ancient Mariner,' and as such introduced 

 myself, reminding the audience that, like my prototype, 

 I was ' an old croak.' I quite expect that we shall get an 

 Expedition out of Lord Salisbury's Govt; 



I was introduced to Flinders Petrie, an interesting man,' 

 who read a queer paper on the undesirability of interference 

 by civilisation (missionaries, &c.) with many of the habits 

 of natives. It was difficult to see where, and at what, he 

 would draw the line. 



Some one also read a paper on the cannibal tribes of the 

 Congo region, who habitually feed on human flesh, and sell 



