INTRODUCTION XX111 
the white peaks of Mount Sabine and shortly afterwards 
Cape Adare. Foiled by the presence of land from gaining 
the magnetic Pole, he turned southwards (true) into what 
is now called the Ross Sea, and, after spending many days 
in travelling down this coast-line with the mountains on 
his right hand, the Ross Sea on his left, he discovered and 
named the great line of mountains which here for some five 
hundred miles divides the sea from the Antarctic plateau. 
On January 27, “ with a favourable breeze and very clear 
weather, we stood to the southward, close to some land 
which had been in sight since the preceding noon, and 
which we then called the High Island ; it proved to bea 
mountain twelve thousand four hundred feet of elevation 
above the level of the sea, emitting flame and smoke in 
great profusion ; at first the smoke appeared like snow- 
drift, but as we drew nearer its true character became mani- 
fest... . I named it Mount Erebus, and an extinct volcano 
to the eastward, little inferior in height, being by meas- 
urement ten thousand nine hundred feet high, was called 
Mount Terror.” That is the first we hear of our two old 
friends, and Ross Island is the land upon which they stand. 
““As we approached the land under all studding-sails 
we perceived a low white line extending from its eastern 
extreme point as far as the eye could discern to the east- 
ward. It presented an extraordinary appearance, gradually 
increasing in height as we got nearer to it, and proving at 
length to be a perpendicular cliff of ice, between one hun- 
dred and fifty and two hundred feet above the level of the 
sea, perfectly flat and level at the top, and without any fis- 
sures or promontories on its even seaward face.” } 
Ross coasted along the Barrier for some 2 50 miles from 
Cape Crozier, as he called the eastern extremity of Ross 
Island, after the commander of the Terror. This point 
where land, sea and moving Barrier meet will be constantly 
mentioned in this narrative. Returning, he looked into 
the Sound which divides Ross Island from the western 
mountains. On February 16 “* Mount Erebus was seen at 
2.30 a.M., and, the weather becoming very clear, we had a 
1 Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 216-218. 
