TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 71 



and " not a tree was to be seen, not a slirub even big enough to make a tooth- 

 pick." 



Contemplating this, to him, strange climate, he remarks, "who would have thought 

 that an island of no greater extent than this, situated between the latitude of 54° 

 and 55°, should, in the very height of siunmer, be in a manner wholly covered many 

 fathoms deep with frozen snow r"' 



But pushing on still further, vdth that prowess and intrepidity which makes hia 

 history so romantic and himself the pictm-esque man of the sea, he discovered Sand- 

 wich Land, in lat. 59°-G0°, when he made " bold enough to say that no man would 

 ever venture fiuther ; that the lands to the south woidd never be explored, for they 

 were doomed by natm-eto pei-petual fr-igidness, never to feel the warmth of the sun 3 

 rays ; whose horrible and savage aspect" he had not words to describe. 



In all these specidations, however, he was mistaken, for other explorers have gone 

 fiu-ther south ; and tlie very islands that in his opinion were never to benefit any one, 

 have afforded to commerce seal-skins and oil to the value of many millions oi dol- 

 lars, and, with the island that he named Desolation, from its aspect, still give em- 

 ployment annually, or did a few years ago (Weddell), to 2000 tons of shipping and 

 200 or 300 seamen. 



No explorer has yet tried the Antarctic vdnter. There is, my investigations lead 

 me to believe, no gi'eat difference between it and the Antarctic summer ; and the 

 erroneous impression that has fastened itself on the public mind as to the extreme 

 severity of winter about the South Pole, has no doubt its root in the low summer 

 temperatm'es that prevail there. 



If, in pleading the cause of Antarctic exploration, I be required to answer first 

 the question of cui bono ? which is so apt to be put, I reply, it is enough for me, 

 when contemplating the vast extent of that unknown region, to know that it is a 

 part of the sm-face of om- planet, and to remember that the earth was made for man ; 

 that all knowledge is profitable ; that no discoveries have conferred more honour 

 and glory vipon the age in which they were made, or been more beneficial to the 

 world, than geographical discoveries ; and that never were nations so well prepared 

 to undertake Antarctic exploration as are those that I now solicit. The last who 

 essayed it reached furthest ; they were Billinghausen of Eussia, forty years ago, 

 Admiral d'Ui-ville of France, Ross of England, and Wilkes of America, — all about 

 the same time, and nearly a quarter of a centuiy ago. But since that time the 

 world has grown in knowledge, and man has gained wonderfully in his power for 

 conquest in this field of research. We have now the sea-steamer, which former 

 Arctic explorers had not ; the experience acquired since their day, in polar explora- 

 tion about the i\i'ctic regions, euables us to overcome many an obstacle that loomed 

 up before them in tndy formidable proportions. The gold of Australia has built 

 up among the antipodes of Em-ope one of the most extensive shipping ports in the 

 world. By steam, it is within less than a week's sailing distance of the Antarctic 

 Circle ; and thus those unknown regions of the south, instead of being far remote, 

 as in the time of all previous explorers they were, have, since exploration was last 

 attempted there, been actually brought within a few days' sail of a great commercial 

 mart, with its storas, its supplies, and resources of all kinds. The advantages and 

 facilities for Antarctic exploration are inconceivably greater now than in the days 

 of Cook and others. They are gxeatly enhanced by the joint system of national 

 cooperation for the purpose of searching out the mysteries of the sea, now recognized 

 and practised by all maritime nations. In this beautifid and beneficial cooperation, 

 oflicers of the difiercnt nations have learned to pidl and work together for a conmion 

 good and a common glory. This habit would be carried to the South Pole by co- 

 operation among the different nations concerned in sending out vessels for explora- 

 tion there. 



Nay, that great unexplored area lies at the very doors of one of the powers that 

 is most renowned in this field of discovery. She too has taken a prominent part in 

 this joint system of philosophical research, which has converted our ships of war 

 into temples of science as well, and literally studded the sea with floating observa- 

 tories. France, also renowned for the achievements won by her navy in peace as 

 well as in war, is also, with her colonies, but a little further olf ; and the hardy Dutch 

 are hard by. They, too, as well as the Portuguese, Spaniards, Russians, and Italians, 

 have won renovra in the field of maritime exploration. Their traditions now help 



