GEOGRAPHIC NOTES 
BY 
CYRUS C. BABB 
THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT®* 
Résumé of Exploration Work.—The first expedition into the 
Antarctic area was made in 1567 by Alvaro Mendafia, a Peru- 
vian. In 1598 the South Shetland islands, a group south of 
cape Horn, was discovered by the Dutch, and in 1606 the New 
Hebrides group was discovered by a second Peruvian expedition. 
La Roche, a Frenchman, in 1672 reported the discovery of an 
island now known as South Georgia island. France in 1772 
sent out M de Kerguelen, who sighted land in latitude 49° 8. 
and longitude 69° E. He thought he had discovered the Ant- 
arctic continent, but a second expedition the next year showed 
it to be only a barren island, which now bears his name. 
The great English captain, James Cook, was the first, however, 
to do any serious work in this section. In 1775 he first crossed 
the southern circle, and the next year he reached latitude 71° 
10’ S. in longitude 106° 54’ W. He describes the region as in- 
tensely inhospitable, beset with thick fogs and heavy storms, and 
the ports along the coast, if there were any, as being filled with 
ice of a great thickness. He also believed that it would be impos- 
sible to attain a higher latitude,and it is a fact that his record has 
been surpassed by only two other men—that is, Captain James 
Weddell and Sir James’ Clark Ross. 
After Cook came Smith, Palmer and Bransfield in 1819 and 
1820, and during this latter year also Bellingshausen, a Russian, 
attained a latitude of 70° 8. in longitude 1° 30’ W., discovering 
Alexander and Peter islands. Powell discovered the South Ork- 
neys. Cook’s record was broken in 1823 when Weddell reached 
latitude 74° 15’ 8. in longitude 34° 17’ W. Here he found an 
*See The Geographical Journal, London, 1894; also the Royal Scottish 
Geographical Magazine, Edinburgh, 1894; also Antarctica, by General 
A. W. Greely, Cosmopolitan, July, 1894. 
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