74 THE ANTARCTIC. 



W.S.W. land could still be seen in the far distance, evi- 

 dently already a part of Trinity Land, but between these 

 distant heights and Louis-Philippe Land a broad arm of 

 the sea seemed to lie, the Orleans Channel, which the 

 vessels passed by in mist and rain. On its western shore 

 they again came upon a group of five cone-shaped islands, 

 entirely free from snow, with heights varying from 320 

 to 480 feet. During a short interval the weather cleared, 

 and an extent of land was seen behind the islands, but 

 soon mist and rain again set in so heavily that safety 

 seemed to urge standing off from the land, or rather 

 from the Dumoulin Isles, as they had been named. On 

 the 4th of March the weather was better, and permitted 

 a view of Louis-Philippe Land and of Trinity Land, 

 with its snow-clad elevations, as well as of the Orleans 

 Channel. On the 5th of March, however, D'Urville 

 gave up all further search, steered past Deception Island, 

 and through Boyd Straits, between Smith Island and 

 Snow Island, to the north. 



It is greatly to be regretted that D'Urville made no 

 attempt to visit and to lay down the coasts of either 

 Trinity Land or Palmer Land ; for, as he himself admits, 

 the condition of the ice in Bransfield Straits was very 

 favourable. It would also appear from his own account 

 that even the Orleans Channel was not entirely impass- 

 able ; nay, from the remarks of his officers, one may 

 conclude that the Channel was free from ice, and that 

 the attempt to sail in was not made merely on account 

 of the advanced season and the consequent shortening 

 of the daylight. In any event, it must be admitted that 

 D'Urville did not achieve what might have been achieved. 

 He was anxious to quit the inhospitable polar regions for 

 kinder skies, under which, after the squadron had put 

 into Chilian harbours, he spent the two subsequent years 

 in important undertakings of various kinds. 



It is not impossible that D'Urville would have ab- 



