xxiv WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
splendid view of the whole line of coast, to all appearance 
connecting it with the main land, which we had not before 
suspected to be the case.” ‘The reader will understand 
that Ross makes a mistake here, since Mounts Erebus and 
Terror are upon an island connected to the mainland only 
by a sheet of ice. He continues: “‘A very deep bight was 
observed to extend far to the south-west from Cape Bird 
[Bird was the senior lieutenant of the Erebus], in which a 
line of low land might be seen; but its determination was 
too uncertain to be left unexplored; and as the wind blow- 
ing feebly from the west prevented our making any way in 
that direction through the young ice that now covered the 
surface of the ocean in every part, as far as we could see 
from the mast-head, I* determined to steer towards the 
bight to give it a closer examination, and to learn with more 
certainty its continuity or otherwise. At noon we were in 
latitude 76° 32’ S., longitude 166° 12’ E., dip 88° 24’ and 
variation 107° 18’ E. 
“During the afternoon we were nearly becalmed, and 
witnessed some magnificent eruptions of Mount Erebus, 
the flame and smoke being projected to a great height ; 
but we could not, as on a former occasion, discover any 
lava issuing from the crater; although the exhibitions of 
to-day were upon a much grander scale... . 
“Soon after midnight (February 16-17) a breeze 
sprang up from the eastward and we made all sail to the 
southward until 4 a.M., although we had an hour before 
distinctly traced the land entirely round the bay connecting 
Mount Erebus with the mainland. I named it McMurdo 
Bay, after the senior lieutenant of the Terror, a compli- 
ment that his zeal and skill well merited.”! It is now called 
McMurdo Sound. 
In making the mistake of connecting Erebus with the 
mainland Ross was looking at a distance upon the Hut 
Point Peninsula running out from the S.W. corner of 
Erebus towards the west. He probably saw Minna Bluff, 
which juts out from the mainland towards the east. Be- 
tween them, and in front of the Bluff, lie White Island, 
1 Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 244-245. 
