HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 67 



in latitude 64°4o' S. and longitude 1 37° 35' E., but finally 

 concluded that it was only a fog-bank over the icebergs. 

 Here, too, the subsequent investigations of Dumont 

 D'Urville verified the existence of land. Influenced by 

 the advanced time of year and the large numbers of ice- 

 bergs, Balleny determined upon his return. He sailed 

 to the north-west and crossed the 60th parallel of S. 

 latitude on meridian ioo° E. on the 14th of March, en- 

 countering violent storms on his further course, in one 

 of which, while the schooner suffered severely, the little 

 cutter disappeared, leaving no trace behind. He returned 

 to London on the 17th of September, still in time to 

 communicate particulars of his discoveries to Captain 

 James Clark Ross, who was on the point of sailing for 

 the very regions from the exploration of which Balieny 

 had just returned. 



4. DUMONT D'URVILLE, WILKES, ROSS. 



Balleny may to a certain extent be regarded as the 

 forerunner or pioneer of a succession of brilliant scientific 

 voyages of discovery to the South Pole, which we are 

 now in its entirety accustomed to regard as the great 

 era of Antarctic exploration. It was not a mere 

 matter of chance that this period was now entered upon, 

 although Balleny's voyage across the untried tract of 

 southern sea within the 60th parallel of latitude may 

 perhaps be regarded as such. It was not chance, for 

 just at this time one branch of physiographical know- 

 ledge stood in the foreground as a subject of universal 

 interest, a subject that actually pointed to the poles of 

 the earth in connection with its wider development, and 

 that could not be successfully studied without explorations 

 north and south — the subject of terrestrial magnetism. 

 The high theoretical and practical importance of such 

 study had for a long time been recognised, and above 



