42 BALCH— WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22, 



The writer immediately answered:^*' 



The final suggestion of Dr. Mill deserves unqualified approval. Would 

 it not be possible to send an American expedition, either private or govern- 

 mental, to reexplore the coast of Wilkes Land? A steamship like the 

 " Bear," commanded by naval officers, should be able, in the course of one 

 southern summer, to bring back fresh data about the land discovered by 

 Americans in East Antarctica. 



Here the matter slumbered again. 



When Captain Scott, however, published^^ his unwarranted, 

 inaccurate statements about Admiral Wilkes, the writer wrote two 

 articles, " Antarctic Nomenclature "^^ and " Wilkes Land."^** The 

 latter article wound up in these words : 



And now to take up another phase of this question. The whole of East 

 Antarctica may be one great land mass. Or it may be that Wilkes Land 

 is one mass, possibly a continuation of Australia ; and Victoria Land one 

 mass, possibly a continuation of New Zealand. No one can say positively, 

 until an expedition is sent out to explore systematically the northern coast 

 of East Antarctica. Mr. Henryk Arctowski, a member of de Gerlache's 

 Antarctic expedition, is trying hard to keep up interest in Antarctic ex- 

 ploration and to have international cooperation in the future, as he has 

 explained in a recent monograph. Is it impossible to wake up governmental 

 interest in the United States in this matter, or, if it is, would not some 

 American multi-millionaire furnish the funds to send an expedition to 

 settle for all time the facts about the greatest geographical discovery of the 

 nineteenth century, the coast of " The Antarctic Continent " discovered 

 by Charles Wilkes? 



In an editorial commenting on these articles, the Nezv York 

 Tribune-^ said : 



It is extremely unfortunate that Captain Scott did not extend his survey 

 to the precise spot at which Wilkes made his historic observations. Few 

 disinterested geographers will attach any value to his report so far as the 

 reality of Wilkes Land is involved. To assume on the strength of such 

 evidence that any mistake has been made heretofore is premature, to say 

 the least. Not until a new expedition has gone to the region in question 

 and has made a more thorough search than did Captain Scott would it be 

 wise or honest to drop the name Wilkes Land from Antarctic charts. For 



^"Science, Vol. XVIIL, September 4, 1903. 



" " The Voyage of the Discovery." See supra, Mr. Newberry's letter. 



^^ Bulletin American Geographical Society, December, 1905. 



^^ Bulletin American Geograpliical Society, January, 1906. 



'" February 5, 1906 : 



