86 Transactions, —Miscellaneous, 
Land, Outlying islands alone have been visited, and then for the brief- 
est period. The main land has been seen from a distance bursting 
through the antarctic ice-cap and that is all. It is of the utmost interest 
to know whether all or any of these lands are inhabited by human beings. 
Their entire separation from the great continents of Asia and America, 
and the want of even the limited means of subsistence afforded by the 
North Polar regions for mankind, seem to forbid the supposition but 
are not conclusive, and nothing but actual research can settle the ques- 
on. 
A knowledge of the geology of those regions would be of deep interest, 
but it is noticeable that, according to such observations as could be made, 
the lands visited by Ross’s expedition were wholly volcanic in character. 
There was an entire absence of sedimentary formations, whose examination 
in the North Polar regions has yielded such useful fruits to science. Even 
in zoology a new expedition could hardly be barren of results, for Ross’s 
enriched the naturalist's catalogue considerably. Ice action, too, is playing 
such an important part in modern geological speculations, that it is a little 
surprising that such a novel field of study as the Antarctic regions has not 
been taken up before, inasmuch as ice here assumes highly characteristic 
forms, quite different from those it presents in the north. Meteorological 
and magnetic phenomena can also be studied under peculiar advantages. 
The precise object of Ross’s expedition was to take magnetic observations, 
and to reach the south magnetic pole. Ross determined the position of 
the latter, but did not get within 160 miles of it. I could, however, traverse 
a large part of the domain of physical research, pointing out how it would 
be enriched by an antarctic expedition, but I have said enough to prove 
that such an expedition would be likely to produce scientific fruits of the 
utmost value. Its probable commercial results must also not be overlooked. 
Ross discovered plentifully-stocked whaling grounds, and a rich bed of guano 
on Possession Island, situated in lat. 71° 56’ S., and long. 171? 7’ E. Upon 
this island there were scaly penguins in myriads, and the same bird was 
seen in immense numbers in other places. This species of penguin attains 
a large size, the birds often weighing as much as 601bs. or 701lbs. a-piece, 
and, as they yield a valuable medicinal oil in considerable quantity, their 
capture ought to be commercially profitable. Seals, too, swarm in the 
lower latitudes, where they have bred undisturbed during countless ages. 
Indeed, when we begin to contemplate the vast impetus which might be 
given to the commerce of New Zealand and the neighbouring colonies 
by a thorough exploration of the Antarctic Seas, the imagination is apt to 
wander into boundless regions of potential wealth, only awaiting the enter- 
