CHAPTER IV 

 RECENT EXPEDITIONS TO THE ANTARCTIC 



IN the last chapter we have seen how our knowledge 

 of the great continent was so remarkably advanced 

 during that short period between 1901 and 1912. Be- 

 fore that nothing was known of the interior, and noth- 

 ing of winter conditions except at two or three localities 

 at relatively low latitudes. Since 191 2 we have had 

 a reasonably good idea of most of the varying environ- 

 ments which are to be found in Antarctica, whether it 

 be High Plateau, floating Ice Shelf, outlet glaciers 

 of the Great Scarp, or subglacial topography as shown 

 in the empty valleys west of MacMurdo Sound. Fur- 

 thermore, five winters have been spent in the latter 

 vicinity and full weather data obtained for a region as 

 far south as y8° S. 



There still remains nine-tenths of the continent to 

 be explored and more than half the coast line (see Fig- 

 ure 34). The outstanding problem of the region be- 

 tween the Pole and the Weddell Sea — is it lowland, 

 gulf, or high plateau? — is still unsolved. But apart 

 from this, we may perhaps say that there are not likely 

 to be so many novel polar environments still unknown 

 as were investigated in the ''Golden Period of South 

 Polar Exploration" from 1901 to 1912. Perhaps one 

 should extend this period to include the Australasian 



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