1 14 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Outline Map of South Polar Regions 



Deception Island, South Shetlands, is de- 

 scribed in Fanning's Voyages, p. 435. 

 Captain N. B. Palmer, in the sloop Hero, 

 visited this land, and on his return pas- 

 sage fell in with Bellinghausen, whom 

 Palmer informed of the mountainous 

 land to the south." 



But more remarkable was the voyage 

 of Admiral Charles Wilkes, in 1840. To 

 quote Edwin S. Balch, author of "Ant- 

 arctica :"* 



* National Geographic Magazine, 1903, 

 p. 21S. 



"With unsuitable, improperly equipped 

 ships, amid icebergs, gales, snowstorms, 

 and fogs, Wilkes followed an unknown 

 coast line for over 1,500 miles, a distance 

 exceeding in length the Ural Mountains. 

 It is the long distance which Wilkes 

 traversed which makes the results of his 

 cruise so important, for he did not merely 

 sight the coast in one or two places, but 

 he hugged it for such a distance as to 

 make sure that the land was continental 

 in dimensions. The expedition noticed 

 appearances of land on January 13; it 



