10-* THE ANTARCTIC. 



of eighty miles, and on the following night the Aurora 

 Australis was seen for the first time On the 2nd of 

 March, land was seen to the W.N.W., apparently two 

 islands, which Ross named Russell Peak and Smith 

 Island. An attempt was made to approach them, but 

 the ice was so dense that the mere attempt was attended 

 with difficulty and danger, and a speedy retreat was effected. 

 On the 3rd of March, the land was nearly veiled by 

 clouds, but it reappeared quite distinctly in the S.W. and 

 was easily recognised, by the peculiar form of Russell Peak, 

 as the land previously seen ; from this position it was 

 evident that there were three islands ; and the third was 

 named Frances Island. Ross found that the position of 

 the group was approximately latitude 67° 28' S. and 

 longitude 165° 30' E., and this circumstance leads to the 

 conjecture that these were possibly the Balleny Islands, 

 even although the position given by Balleny varies con- 

 siderably from that of Ross. The weather was too bad 

 and the vessels too far distant from the land to allow of 

 Ross making an accurate and satisfactory observation, 

 but he was certainly of opinion that the two groups were 

 close together. After this sight of land he crossed the 

 Antarctic circle, steering west in order to come upon the 

 eastern extremity of the land laid down in the chart of the 

 " Antarctic Continent " sent him by Wilkes. The 5th of 

 March was a splendidly clear day, and land of any elevation 

 could have been seen at a distance of seventy nautical 

 miles, but nowhere was anything to be seen, so that Ross 

 concluded that Wilkes and his men, being novices in 

 polar regions, had been deceived by the appearance of a 

 bank of clouds. This opinion seemed confirmed on the 

 following day, when far to the S. S.W. of Mount Erebus, 

 an indication of land was seen, exactly in the direction of 

 the Balleny Isles, now distant seventy or eighty nautical 

 miles, and besides this the vessels actually sailed over 

 the place where Wilkes had laid down land in his chart. 



