362 MISCELLANEOUS LETTEES, 1886-1897 



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

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

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

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

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

 pack, Eoss in that same longitude met in 63° 15' a pack o 

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

 advice is to subscribe to the Colonists sending a ship t* 

 look out for the soft places, previous to sending proper!; 

 equipped exploring vessels to do battle with the ice. Th< 

 whole circumnavigation could easily be accomplished in on< 

 season, and one Naturalist to use the tow-net and to dredg< 

 at moderate depths would be able to bottle up a splendk 

 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 shoul 

 subscribe the £5000 in aid of scientific objects and make i 

 clearly understood that it accepts no responsibility. 



To Ayerst Hooker 



Oct. 4, 1895. 



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

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

 the inauguration of a special section for Botany, of whid 

 Dyer was President. 



The only other thing that interested me was the further 

 ance of another Antarctic Expedition, upon which I had t( 

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

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

 myself, reminding the audience that, like my prototype 

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

 Expedition out of Lord Salisbury's Govt: 



I was introduced to Flinders Petrie, an interesting mar 

 who read a queer paper on the undesirability of interferenc 

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

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

 would draw the line. 



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

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



