NEW COAST-LINE 



line from Cape North westward, so as to link it up with 

 Adelie Land. No ship had ever succeeded in penetrat- 

 ing to the westward of Cape North, heavy pack having 

 been encountered on the occasion of each attempt. 

 The Discovery had passed through the Balleny Islands 

 and sailed over part of the so-called Wilkes Land of the 

 maps, but the question of the existence of this land in 

 any other position had been left open. 



We steamed along the pack-ice, which was beginning 

 to thicken, and although we did not manage to do all that 

 I had hoped, we had the satisfaction of pushing our little 

 vessel along that coast to longitude 166° 14' East, lati- 

 tude 69° 47' South, a point further west than had been 

 reached by any previous expedition. On the morning of 

 March 8 we saw, beyond Cape North, a new coast-line ex- 

 tending first to the southwards and then to the west for a 

 distance of over forty-five miles. We took angles and 

 bearings, and Marston sketched the main outlines. 

 We were too far away to take any photographs that 

 would have been of value, but the sketches show very 

 clearly the type of the land. Professor David was of 

 opinion that it was the northern edge of the polar 

 plateau. The coast seemed to consist of chlFs, with a 

 few bays in the distance. We would all have been glad 

 of an opportunity to explore the coast thoroughly, but 

 that was out of the question; the ice was getting thicker 

 all the time, and it was becoming imperative that we 

 should escape to clear water without further delay. 

 There was no chance of getting further west at that point, 

 and as the new ice was forming between the old pack 

 of the previous year and the land, we were in serious 

 danger of being frozen in for the winter at a place where 

 we could not have done any geological work of import- 

 ance. We therefore moved north along the edge of the 

 pack, making as much westing as possible, in the direc- 



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