xx ii President's Address 



navigators who were in those regions with Sir James Ross, 

 are even of opinion that the party would have to be landed, 

 and left for about twelve months, as it is not considered 

 safe for a ship to winter there. Dr. Hooker, of Kew, who 

 was also there with Sir J. Ross in 1841, speaks of Possession 

 Island and that region in very chilly terms — he says the 

 island is a " mere rock in a very inaccessible position. The 

 chance of landing a well-equipped party upon it when 

 reached, and the prospect of its subsequent removal by 

 ships, if landed on, is very small. In any case, I feel little 

 uncertainty as to what would be the fate of a party left 

 there for the winter, and the prospect of their seeing the 

 transit would be absolutely nil." And further on he says — 

 " The fact is, there is no summer or clear weather to be had, 

 except by the rarest chance. For days and days we worked 

 by dead reckoning alone. Storm, wind, and snow, are the 

 prevalent summer phenomena. Still, some seasons are not so 

 bad as others, and Weddell got to 74 J° in an open sea in the 

 meridian where we barely reached 66°." These facts form, I 

 believe, the principal reasons why Possession Island or some 

 other equally southern point, has not been selected by any 

 of the expeditions. There are islands without the ice zones 

 which, although in an astronomical sense less favourably 

 situated than Possession Island, or Victoria Land, are still 

 valuable positions, and which so far as can yet be ascertained 

 remain unappropriated as stations ; Emerald Island, Mac- 

 quarrie Land, and Royal Co. Island for instance, where the 

 duration of the transit as compared with Possession Island, 

 at which place we may call it 33 mins., are respectively 

 29*3 mins., 29 1 mins., and 286 mins. These islands, I 

 believe, are all accessible, and being wooded probably possess 

 comparatively genial climates in the southern summer. 



The southern stations already decided upon are — Rodri- 

 guez, Auckland, Alexandria, Kerguelen Land, St. Paul's 



