94 ADDRESS. 



ments, to those who hold the belief that the Pole can be attained 

 He records the extraordinary facts that, after having been almost 

 hemmed in by ice in far lower parallels, in latitude 72 28', not a 

 single particle was to be seen ; and, that in the unprecedently 

 high latitude of 74 15', no fields, and only three islands, of ice 

 were visible. Flights of innumerable birds were here seen. 



Weddell, discourages the idea of land existing in the polar 

 regions of the south, and the facts he has given us are calculated 

 to strengthen such a supposition. He distinctly states that he saw 

 unknown coasts south of the Shetlands, tending southerly in about 

 latitude 64 ; although from that point to the highest to which he 

 explored, he recognised no other indications of land. 



There is one subject, if our memory serves us right, upon which 

 the opinions of Weddell do not appear to have been based upon 

 his experience. He seems to favour the often repeated, though 

 erroneous assertion, that the cold is more intense in the far An- 

 tarctic latitudes, than in similar parallels in the Arctic circle ; yet 

 he states the temperature to be mild, and the ocean to be free from 

 field ice ; the vast accumulation of which is undoubtedly the 

 cause of the severe frigidity, the cold and shivering dampness, in 

 the neighbourhood of the Shetlands. 



Since the voyage of Weddell, the belief in the existence of 

 southern lands has - received further confirmation ; and vague 

 speculation is now replaced by what would seem to be authentic 

 knowledge. The circumstance to which we allude in making this 

 statement, is the discovery made by Captain Briscoe of the brig 

 Lively, accompanied by cutter Tula, in 1831-2. Captain Briscoe, 

 who was in the employ of Messrs. Enderby, extensive whale-ship 

 owners of London, on the 28th of February, being in latitude 

 about 66 30' S., longitude 47 31' E., descried land, and clearly 

 discovered through the snow, the black peaks of a range of 

 mountains running E. S. E. During the following month he 

 remained on the newly discovered coast ; but, from the state of 



