WHY AMERICA SHOULD RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 



(Plate I.) 



By EDWIN SWIFT BALCH. 



(Read April 22, 1909.) 



I. 



In the year 1899 Sir Clements R. Markham, then president of 

 the Royal Geographical Society, read a paper " The Antarctic 

 Expeditions "^ before the International Geographical Congress at 

 Berlin. In this paper he mentioned the names and work of many 

 Antarctic explorers, but he omitted the names of Wilkes and 

 Palmer, and, in fact, he did not refer to any American. More- 

 over, he proposed to divide the Antarctic regions into four quad- 

 rants, all of which were to receive English names, and over the 

 land which for fifty years has borne the name of " Wilkes Land," 

 he intended to affix the term " Victoria Quadrant." 



This remarkable attitude towards Americans, of a man holding 

 such a prominent scientific position in England, arrested the atten- 

 tion of the writer, who began to study carefully Antarctic litera- 

 ture to find out on what Sir C. R. Markham based his opinions. 

 It did not take long to become aware that although there were 

 plenty of papers and some books of explorations about the South 

 Pole, yet there was nothing in the shape of a connected history 

 which was in the least accurate. Many things were omitted, and 

 what was not forgotten was often wrong. A then recently pub- 

 lished book " The Antarctic Regions," by Dr. Karl Pricker, teem- 

 ing with errors and prejudice, was a shining example of this worth- 

 less method of writing geographical history. 



That American explorers were thrown aside, was also evidently 

 partly the fault of American writers. Wilkes was neglected. 

 Palmer almost forgotten, and Pendleton entirely so, by their 



^ The Geographical Journal, 1899, Vol. XIV., pp. 473-481. 



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