GRAHAM'S AND ALEXANDER LANDS. 193 



proximity of land than the indistinct and delusive appear- 

 ance of the same. Its existence is finally rendered probable 

 by the description given by Cook in his famous Ne 

 plus ultra referred to above. We repeat : In front of 

 of him he saw, in latitude 71 io' S. and longitude 106 

 54/ W., beyond a zone of pack-ice a nautical mile in width, 

 a firm, compact, mass of ice, which appeared to be rather 

 low and flat. It increased greatly in height towards the 

 south, and supported ninety-seven ice-hills, many of which 

 were very high, and successively overtopped each other 

 till they disappeared in the clouds, giving thus the im- 

 pression of a complete mountain chain — which it prob- 

 ably was, as may be assumed with considerable certainty. 

 That common icebergs are not to be thought of in this 

 description is shown by the unusual term he employs, 

 and by the fact that the more distant masses tower above 

 the nearer ones ; icebergs are in any given region of 

 much the same height, and this would, according to the 

 rules of perspective, exclude the appearance here de- 

 scribed. Cook no doubt saw a mountainous country, and 

 the level and firm ice-field in front of it must have been 

 the well-known sheet of inland ice. 



It would be extremely desirable that this region too 

 should be taken into consideration in the plans of future 

 south polar explorations. Actual examination alone can 

 definitively settle the question whether Peter I. Island, or 

 some land to the rear of it corresponding to Walker's 

 landsighting, and finally Cook's sights of land, can be 

 combined into one general whole and connected with the 

 coast of Victoria Land. The opponents of the theory of 

 the existence of a south polar land, or even of a south 

 polar continent, ought not to forget that there is absolutely 

 nothing known that militates against the existence of such 

 land, because no land has been seen in regions not yet 

 reached by any ship ; in other words, the assumption of 



the existence of land is logically as justifiable as that of 



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