CHAPTEE IX. 



ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



1840. 



The subjects of which I am about to treat in the following chapters 

 are exclusively nautical. I shall therefore adopt in treating them 

 more of the form of a log-book, and follow the daily order of their 

 occurrence with more strictness than I have hitherto considered 

 necessary. This will be done in order to illustrate more fully the nature 

 of the remote regions we traversed, and for the purpose of giving a 

 more exact relation of the incidents of this part of our cruise, — inci- 

 dents that I cannot but hope have made this part of our labours 

 particularly interesting to all of our countrymen who possess a 

 feeling of national pride. 



The credit of these discoveries has been claimed on the part of one 

 foreign nation, and their extent, nay, actual existence, called into ques- 

 tion«by another ; both having rival expeditions abroad, one at the same 

 time, the other the year succeeding. 



Each of these nations, with what intent I shall not stop to inquire, 

 has seemed disposed to rob us of the honour by underrating the impor- 

 tance of their own researches, and would restrict the Antarctic land to 

 the small parts they respectively saw. However willing I might be in 

 a private capacity to avoid contesting their statements, and let truth 

 make its own way, I feel it due to the honour of our flag to make a 

 proper assertion of the priority of the claim of the American Expe- 

 dition, and of the greater extent of its discoveries and researches. 



That land does exist within the Antarctic Circle is now confirmed 

 by the united testimony of both French and English navigators. 

 D'Urville, the celebrated French navigator, within a few days after 

 land was seen by the three vessels of our squadron, reports that his 



vol. ii. Y2 36 <*»> 



