HAS' TO RY OF DISCO J r ER Y. 117 



fortunate as to set foot on the newly-discovered con- 

 tinent, or, to speak more modestly, on this enormous 

 mass of land, he was able by means of his voyage to 

 prove that in two places in the highest southern latitudes 

 land covered with mountains of volcanic origin exists, 

 and among them one volcano in an active state of 

 eruption. The voyages of Ross also contributed to the 

 extension of biological science by his deep-sea dredging, 

 proving, what appeared not only amazing but incredible, 

 the existence of living coral insects in the depths of the 

 icy southern polar seas. And, lastly, he contributed to 

 the industrial welfare of his fellow-creatures by the dis- 

 covery of countless numbers of whales in high latitudes, 

 as well as of islands thickly covered with the guano 

 of the penguin, which may in the future become as 

 valuable and important as the kryolith pits of Greenland. 

 And above all, Ross has shown the world what may be 

 achieved in those inhospitable regions by a competent, 

 energetic leader, and has proved it with ships that had 

 no power of self-propulsion, spite of all their excellence 

 and fitness. If any man deserves to be regarded as the 

 hero of Antarctic exploration surely it is James Clark 

 Ross. 



VOYAGES AFTER ROSS UP TO THE PRESENT. 



The great period of south polar discovery came to an 

 end with the return of Ross from his third Antarctic 

 voyage, and all that has been achieved since can soon 

 be told. The first event worthy of mention is the 

 voyage of an American, William G. Smiley, captain 

 of a seal-hunting vessel, one of the very few that con- 

 tinued to hunt along the nearly depopulated coasts of 

 the South Shetland Isles and of Palmer Land. His 

 voyage is contemporaneous with the second voyage of 

 Ross, as he landed on Deception Island in February, 



