INTRODUCTION XXi 
was revealed, and the limits of the habitable globe were 
made known. Incidentally it may be remarked that Cook 
was the first to describe the peculiarities of the Antarctic 
icebergs and floe-ice.”’ } 
A Russian expedition under Bellingshausen discovered 
the first certain land in the Antarctic in 1819, and called it 
Alexander Land, which lies nearly duesouth of Cape Horn. 
Whatever may have been the rule in other parts of the 
world, the flag followed trade in the southern seas during 
the first part of the nineteenth century. The discovery of 
large numbers of seals and whales attracted many hundreds 
of ships, and it is to the enlightened instructions of such 
firms as Messrs. Enderby, and to the pluck and enterprise 
of such commanders as Weddell, Biscoe and Balleny, that 
we owe much of our small knowledge of the outline of the 
Antarctic continent. 
“In the smallest and craziest ships they plunged boldly 
into stormy ice-strewn seas; again and again they nar- 
rowly missed disaster ; their vessels were racked and 
strained and leaked badly, their crews were worn out with 
unceasing toil and decimated with scurvy. Yet in spite of 
inconceivable discomforts they struggled on, and it does 
‘not appear that any one of them ever turned his course 
until he was driven to do so by hard necessity. One can- 
not read the simple, unaffected narratives of these voyages 
without being assured of their veracity, and without being 
struck by the wonderful pertinacity and courage which 
they display.” 2 
The position in 1840 was that the Antarctic land had 
been sighted at a few points all round its coasts. On the 
whole the boundaries which had been seen lay on or close 
to the Antarctic Circle, and it appeared probable that the 
continent, if continent it was, consisted of a great circular 
mass of land with the South Pole at its centre, and its coasts 
more or less equidistant from this point. 
Two exceptions only to this had been found. Cook and 
Bellingshausen had indicated a dip towards the Pole south 
of the Pacific; Weddell a still more pronounced dip to the 
1 Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 9. 2 Ibid. p. 14. 
