280 THE SEA. 



Wilkes describes his discoveries in similar terms to those of previous explorers 

 already mentioned. Stones, gravel, sand, mud, &c., were noted on a low iceberg, proving 

 the existence of land somewhere about, but it must be borne in mind that a landing on 

 anything but ice was not effected. 



An attempt on the part of Captain (afterwards Sir James) Ross to establish magnetic 

 observations in the southern hemisphere was unsuccessful, but resulted in a discovery 

 of importance. On January llth, 1841, land was sighted, rising in lofty snow-covered 

 peaks, the elevation of some of which was stated to be from 12,000 feet to 14,000 feet. 

 Various peaks were named after Sabine and other distinguished philosophers who had 

 advocated the cause of the expedition. With some difficulty they landed on an island, on 

 which they planted our flag, and drank a toast to the health of the Queen and Prince 

 Albert. It was named Possession Island. There was no vegetation, but " inconceivable 

 myriads of penguins completely and densely covered the whole surface of the island, 

 along the ledges of the precipices, and even to the summits of the hills, attacking us/' 

 says Ross, " vigorously as we waded through their ranks, and pecking at us with their 

 sharp beaks, disputing possession; which, together with their loud coarse notes, and the 

 insupportable stench from the deep bed of guano, which had been forming for ages, and 

 which may at some period be valuable to the agriculturists of our Australasian colonies, 

 made us glad to get away again, after having loaded our boats with geological specimens 

 and penguins." Whales were very numerous ; thirty were counted at one time in 

 various directions. 



Further south the interesting discovery was made of an active volcano, a mountain 

 12,400 feet altitude, emitting flame and smoke at the time. It was named after the 

 Erebus, one of the vessels employed, while a second volcano, scarcely inferior in height 

 to the first-named, was called Mount Terror, after our staunch old friend the vessel 

 which so well withstood the ice in Sir George Back's expedition. " On the afternoon of 

 the 28th/' says Ross, " Mount Erebus was observed to emit smoke and flame in unusual 

 quantities, producing a most grand spectacle ; a volume of dense smoke was projected at 

 each successive jet with great force, in a vertical column, to the height of between 1,500 

 and 2,000 feet above the mouth of the crater, when, condensing first at its upper part, 

 it descended in mist or snow, and gradually dispersed, to be succeeded by another 

 splendid exhibition of the same kind in about half an hour afterwards, although the 

 intervals between the eruptions were by no means regular. The diameter of the columns 

 of smoke was between two and three hundred feet, as near as we could measure it; 

 whenever the smoke cleared away, the bright red flame that filled the mouth of the crater 

 was clearly perceptible ; and some of the officers believed they could see streams of lava pouring 

 down its sides until lost beneath the snow, which descended from a few hundred feet below 

 the crater, and projected its perpendicular icy cliff several miles into the ocean/' 



The whole of the land traced to the seventy-ninth degree of latitude was named 

 Victoria Land. Ross "restored to England the honour of the discovery of the southern- 

 most known land," which had previously belonged to Russia, as won twenty years before 

 by the intrepid Bellinghausen. A second and a third visit was made by Ross, on the 

 latter of which he made some discoveries of minor importance. 



