172 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



342 appears the date of June 24, with an 

 asterisk, and at the bottom of the page 

 is this note : 



"Nous reprenons la date d'Europe," 



so that the date he dropped was June 23, 

 1840, five months after the visit to the 

 Antarctic and more than twenty months 

 since he crossed the i8oth meridian. 



This means that in d'Urvihe's narra- 

 tive of his discoveries and on the chart 

 of his Antarctic voyage every noon posi- 

 tion must have its date advanced one day 

 in any comparison to be made with the 

 noon positions and the discoveries of 

 Wilkes' ships. 



Wilkes believed that he sighted the 

 Antarctic Continent on January 16, 1840, 

 at about 158° east longitude. On Janu- 

 ary 19, however, he states that "land was 

 now certainly visible from the Vincennes, 

 both to the south-southeast and south- 

 west, in the former direction most dis- 

 tinctly. Both appeared high," etc. 



D'Urville says, in volume 8 of his 

 narrative, under date of January 19 

 (which should be January 20, to corre- 

 spond with Wilkes' time), "At 9 a. m. 

 we saw in the E. S. E. a great black 

 cloud, which seemed stationary and had 

 the appearance of a raised island." "To- 

 ward 3 p. m., M. Gervaize, who was 

 officer of the watch, thought he saw once 

 more an indication of land in the east." 

 "At 10:50 p. m. this luminary (the sun) 

 disappeared and showed up the raised 

 contour of the land in all its sharpness." 

 This land on January 21 (true date, 22) 

 he named Adelie Land. 



Returning now to the meeting of the 

 Porpoise and the French vessels. On the 

 day following the meeting d'Urville re- 

 ports : "At 6 o'clock the man on lookout 

 had sighted the ice pack to the south and 

 I brought the ship to the wind in order 

 to go nearer to explore it. At 10 o'clock 

 we were not more than three or four 

 miles distant. It appeared prodigious. 

 We saw a cliff with a uniform height of 

 100 to 150 feet, forming a long line 

 westward," etc. 



It will be noticed that at 6 o'clock the 

 ice pack and not the barrier was sighted. 



Wilkes' narrative of the movements of 

 the Porpoise for this day states : "The 

 beginning of the 31st the gale continued; 

 at 7 a. m., moderating, they again made 

 sail to the westward ; in half an hour 

 discovered a high barrier of ice to the 

 northward, with ice islands to the south- 

 ward ; at 10 a. m. they found themselves 

 in a great inlet formed of vast fields of 

 ice which they had entered twelve hours 

 previously; the only opening appearing to 

 the eastward, they were compelled to re- 

 trace their steps, which was effected by 

 8 p. m." "They now found themselves 

 out of this dangerous position, and, pass- 

 ing the point, kept away to the west- 

 ward." 



"February i. — The immense perpendic- 

 ular barrier encountered yesterday was 

 now in sight trending as far as the eye 

 could reach to the westward," etc. 



The Porpoise, therefore, at 7:30 a. m., 

 January 31, was in the entrance of the 

 great inlet on the southeast side of d'Ur- 

 ville's "Cote Clarie," and had sighted the 

 high barrier of ice, the northern side of 

 which d'Urville reached about 10 o'clock 

 the same forenoon. 



It is established from this investigation 

 that, even if Wilkes' sighting the Ant- 

 arctic Continent on January 16 is not 

 admitted, it is certain that he did sight 

 Cape Hudson a day before d'Urville 

 sighted Adelie Land, and that Cote Clarie 

 was sighted by the Porpoise on the same 

 day that it was seen by d'Urville, but at 

 an earlier hour. 



Wilkes cruised along the coast of this 

 continent for more than 1,600 miles from 

 his first landfall. Future exploration 

 may, and, indeed, probably will, find that 

 much of the land discovered by him was 

 placed too near the barrier, or, in other 

 words, too far north, for it is well 

 known that distance estimated by the eye 

 is liable to great error, and particularly 

 is this the case in the polar regions. 



Whether this proves to be so or not, 

 this investigation establishes Wilkes' pri- 

 ority over d'Urville. The English sealer 

 Balleny, in 1839, got a glimpse of land 

 in about 121° east, but all he says re- 

 garding it is, "Saw land to the south- 



