44 BALCH— WHY AMERICA SHOULD [April 22, 



the U. S. Exploring Squadron without seeing any of the lands that had 

 been indicated by Wilkes as lying southward of the " Icy Barrier," between 

 the meridians of longitude 154° and 158° east of Greenwich, and stating it 

 is hoped that the Government will dispatch a vessel in order to verify the 

 results of the Wilkes Expedition : I have to inform you that the Hydrog- 

 rapher of the Navy Department, to whom you letter was referred, has sub- 

 mitted the following comments thereon : 



" On the nineteenth of January, 1840, in longitude 154° 30' east, latitude 

 66° 20' south, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes sighted, or believed that he sighted 

 land to the south. On the same day, in longitude 153° 40' east, latitude 

 66° 31' south. Lieutenant Hudson also thought that he saw land to the south. 

 Other officers of the expedition, among them Lieutenant Alden, Gunner 

 Williamson, and Passed Midshipman Colvocoresses, made statements to 

 the same effect. The American vessels sailed westerly, and on the 22nd 

 and 23rd of January reported land again. They then continued their 

 cruise in a westerly direction along this coast for a distance of about 

 1,500 miles, to longitude 97° 37' east. Returning to Sydney, Australia, on 

 the nth of March, 1840, without touching at any intermediate port. Lieu- 

 tenant Wilkes announced his discovery in a report to the Secretary of 

 the Navy on the day of his arrival at Sydney, in the following words : ' It 

 affords me much gratification to report that we have discovered a large body 

 of land within the Antarctic Circle, which I have named the Antarctic 

 Continent, and refer you to the report of our cruise and accompanying 

 charts, inclosed herewith, for full information relative thereto.' 



" At page 18 of Volume One of ' The Voyage of the Discovery,' published 

 in 1905, Captain Scott makes the following statement : 



" ' Wilkes with his five ships sailed from Sydney at the end of December, 

 1839. His ships took various tracks, but he himself in the ' Vincennes ' 

 reached latitude 66° S., longitude 158° E., on January 16, and at this point 

 point he claimed to have first seen land to the south. Hence he cruised 

 to the westward, approximately on the latitude of the Antarctic Circle, with 

 a comparatively open sea to the north and masses of pack-ice to the south ; 

 and beyond the latter he again and again claimed the discovery of high 

 mountainous land. He passed close to Adelie Land and Cote Clarie only .1 

 few days after their discovery by D'Urville, and continuing his cruise, 

 alleged the discovery of further extensive lands to the westward. 



" ' On his return to civilisation Wilkes claimed a vast discovery. The 

 courses of his ships had practically traversed an arc of the Antarctic Circle 

 of no less than 70°, and, although he did not assert that he had seen land 

 continuously south of this arc, he reported its existence at such frequent 

 intervals as to leave little doubt that it was continuous. 



" ' At a later date a great controversy arose as to the accuracy of Wilkes's 

 observations, and resulted in much discredit being thrown on work which 

 in many respects was important. Whilst there can be no possible object 

 in attempting to revive such a controversy, it is evident that the true 

 geographical condition should be known, and therefore I make bold to give 

 my opinion of the matter. In the course of this narrative I shall show that 



