1909.] RE-EXPLORE WILKES LAND. 45 



the mountainous lands reported by Wilkes to the eastward of Adelie Land 

 do not exist, and it must be recognized that those to the west may be 

 equally unsubstantial, but it is not clear that Wilkes wilfully perverted the 

 truth ; only those who have been to these regions can realize how con- 

 stantly a false appearance of land is produced, and no position could be 

 more favorable to such an illusion than that in which this expedition was 

 placed when it skirted the edge of a thick pack containing innumerable 

 icebergs. It must be supposed also, for reasons which I have given, that 

 Wilkes, in common with other explorers, expected to find land about the 

 Antarctic Circle, and when after his return he learned of D'Urville's dis- 

 coveries, the position of Adelie Land would naturally have tended to dispel 

 any doubt which he may have had as to what he or his people had seen. 



" ' Wilkes's ships were ill adapted for battling with the ice, and, apart 

 from their discoveries, the fact that they continued so long in high latitudes 

 reflects great credit on their navigation. Had he been more circumspect 

 in his reports of land, all would have agreed that his voyage was a fine 

 performance.' 



" Captain Scott's statements about the non-existence of lands which 

 Lieutenant Wilkes reported to be situated in the vicinity of the Antarctic 

 Circle, between the meridians of longitude 97° and 158° east of Greenwich, 

 rest upon the fact that, in her voyage homeward from Victoria Land, 

 on March 4, 1903, the " Discovery," in longitude 154° E., crossed the track 

 that had been followed in January, 1840, by the vessels of the U. S. Explor- 

 ing 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. It is with reference to this 

 incident of the approach to the crossing of the tracks of the two expeditions 

 that the language quoted as follows in the letter of the American Geograph- 

 ical Society has been used. 



" ' The sky has been dull, but the horizon quite clear ; we could have seen 

 land at a great distance, yet none has been in sight, and thus once and for 

 all we have definitely disposed of Wilkes Land.' 



" Even if it be admitted that there is no land at the crossing where Cap- 

 tain Scott did not see any, this fact should not operate to induce a conclusion 

 that, within the extent of the remaining 50° of longitude through which the 

 United States Expedition skirted the Antarctic Circle, land does not exist." 



There is no vessel of the Navy available at the present time for dis- 

 patching on a voyage of discovery to the Antarctic regions to verify the 

 results of the exploring expedition (1838-1843) under the command of the 

 late Captain Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. 



Very respectfully, 



Truman H. Newberry, 



Acting Secretary. 

 Air. Chandler Robbins, 



Domestic Corresponding Secretary, 



The American Geographical Society, 

 15 West 8ist Street, 

 New York, N. Y. 



