46 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



under the soil covered by the polar ice. Strange would it be if human 

 industry should dream of establishing itself in these countries, and 

 drawing from the earth the combustible material so needed to make 

 it habitable, thus furnishing the means of overcoming the rigorous 

 climatic conditions of these inhospitable regions ! 



The Antarctic Regions. 



The Antarctic Pole is probably surrounded by an icy canopy not 

 less than 2,500 miles in diameter; and numerous circumstances seem 

 to lead to the conclusion that the vast mass has somewhat diminished 

 since 1774, when the region was visited by Captain Cook. The 

 Antarctic region can only be approached during its summer season, 

 namely, in December, January, and February. 



The first navigator who penetrated the Antarctic circle was the 

 Dutch captain, Theodoric de Gheritk, whose vessel formed part of 

 the squadron commanded by Simon de Cordes, destined for the East 

 Indies. In January, 1600, a tempest having dispersed the squadron. 

 Captain Gheritk was driven as far south as the sixty-fourth parallel, 

 where he observed a coast which reminded him of Norway. It was 

 mountainous, covered with snow, stretching from the coast to the 

 Isles of Solomon. The report of Simon de Cordes was received with 

 gi-eat incredulity, and the doubts raised were only dissipated when the 

 New South Shetland Islands were definitely recognised. The idea of 

 an Antarctic continent is, however, one of the oldest conceptions of 

 speculative geography, and one which mariners and philosophers alike 

 have found it most difficult to relinquish. The existence of a southern 

 continent seemed to them to be the necessary counterpoise to the 

 Arctic land. The terra Australis incognita is marked on all the 

 maps of Mercator round the South Pole, and when the Dutch officer, 

 Kerguelen, ciiscovered, in 1772, the island which bears his name, he 

 quoted this idea of Mercator as the motive which suggested the 

 voyage. In 1774, Captain Cook ventured up to and beyond 71'' 

 of latitude under 109^ west longitude. He traversed 180 leagues, 

 between 50*^ and 60*^ of south latitude without finding the land of 

 which mariners had spoken ; this led him to conclude that mountains 

 of ice, or the great fog-banks of the region, had been mistaken for a 

 continent. Nevertheless, Cook himself clung to the idea of the 

 existence of a southern continent. " I firmly believe," he says, 

 "that near tlie South Pole there is land, where most part of the ice is 

 formed which is spread over the vast Southern Ocean. I cannot 

 believe that the ice could extend itself so far if it had not land— and 



