DISCOVERY OF ANTARCTIC CONTINENT 



on the Hunter River, and near a site famous for fossils. 

 Hale also went to the Wellington Valley, 230 miles to the 

 northwest of Sydney, where he had an opportunity to 

 study the native manners, customs, and language. Peale 

 went into the interior in the direction of Argyle and 

 brought back his story of singular bird-notes, especially 

 the quaint jargon of the laughing jackass (Dacelo gigantea). 

 He obtained with difficulty specimens of Ornithorhyncus, 

 and he saw the wallaby, smallest species of kangaroo, 

 and many opossums. The well-known ornithologist, Mr. 

 Gould, was then studying the Australian humming-birds. 

 Dana made a study of the effects of earthquakes and of 

 volcanic action, but none of the party reached the burn- 

 ing mountain, Wingen. 



On the 26th of December, the very day which had 

 been fixed, before sailing from the United States, for their 

 departure, the Vincennes, Peacock, and Porpoise weighed 

 anchor and stood down the bay. Dana and other mem- 

 bers of the scientific staff were left in Sydney, whence 

 they were to make their way to New Zealand when an 

 opportunity offered. 



Wilkes, in the ninth and tenth chapters of his second 

 volume, has given, almost in the form of a log-book, 

 the incidents of his romantic and exciting voyage to the 

 icy barrier surrounding the South Pole, a voyage of 

 seventy-five days, in going and returning. The glory of 

 it was the discovery, on the morning of the i6th of Janu- 

 ary, 1840, of land within the Antarctic Circle. The 

 discovery was soon confirmed by other navigators. 

 D'Urville, the French admiral, a few days later landed 

 on a small point of rocks, which he called Claire Land, 

 and testified to his belief in the existence of a vast tract 

 of land. Ross, the English explorer, in the succeeding 

 year penetrated to the latitude of 79 S., " coasted for 

 some distance along a lofty country, and established be- 

 yond all cavil the correctness of our assertion," says 



79 



