EXPLORING THE GREAT CONTINENT 



Professor Drygalski in the ship "Gauss," named after 

 the famous German authority on magnetism. After 

 landing- at Kerguelen Island in the Indian Ocean, they 

 sailed south to the region where Wilkes had turned 

 north in 1842 (see Figure 4). Towards the end of 

 February they reached shallow soundings and on the 

 twenty-first saw land some forty-six miles to the south. 

 Here the "Gauss" was beset, and the expedition spent 

 the winter just north of the Antarctic Circle. They 

 sent out some sledging parties, none of which made 

 long journeys. A large mass of volcanic rock pro- 

 jected as a nunatak from the icebound coast and was 

 called the Gaussberg. On the return of spring the 

 "Gauss" broke free from the ice and struggled to the 

 west in the pack for two months. This expedition 

 added little to the map of Antarctica, but very valuable 

 records in the domain of oceanography and meteorology 

 were obtained (see Figure 5). 



Nordenskjold. — The Swedish expedition was one of 

 the most adventurous and successful which has ever 

 sailed to the south. It was commanded by Dr. Norden- 

 skjold, who was specially interested in the structure 

 of South America and wished to investigate similar 

 problems in West Antarctica (Graham Land). They 

 reached the Falkland Islands on the thirty-first of De- 

 cember, 1 90 1, and the South Shetland Isles on the 

 tenth of January, 1902. Nordenskjold tried to pierce 

 the ice to the south without success, and followed the 

 edge of the pack to the east to longitude 44° W. (see 

 Figure 7). Driven back by storms, he decided to 

 make his winter quarters on Snow Hill Island (64° 30' 



41 



