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HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



mander Ross was made post-captain ; the other officers re- 

 ceived speedy promotion ; and Government paid the crew the 

 wages which had accrued beyond the period of fifteen months 

 for which they were engaged, — amounting in all to =£4580. A 

 select committee of the House of Commons was appointed to 

 consider the claims of Captain Ross himself, and concluded its 

 labors by recommending that a sum of =£5000 be voted to him 

 by Parliament. 



In 1825, Captain d'Urville was sent by Charles X. of France 

 upon a voyage similar to those performed by Freycinet and 

 Duperrey. As we have already had occasion to say, this officer 

 was fortunate enough to return to France with the positive 

 proofs of the destruction of the vessels of Laperouse upon the 

 island of Vanikoro. He surveyed the whole of the Feejee 

 archipelago, and restored upon French maps its native name 

 of Viti. The results of d'Urville's labors are comprised in 

 twelve octavo volumes, sixty-three charts, twelve plans, eight 

 hundred and sixty-six designs representing the various island 

 nations, their arms, dwellings, &c, and four hundred landscapes 

 and marine views. Admiral d'Urville ranks as the first French 

 navigator of this century. 



In 1830, two rich shipping-merchants of London, by the 

 name of Enderby, sent Captain Biscoe to the Antarctic Ocean 

 to fish for sealsj in the brig Tula and the cutter Lively, giving 

 him directions to seek for land in high southern latitudes. In 

 February, 1831, — being then as far south as the sixty-ninth 

 parallel and in 12° west, — he saw distinct and positive signs of 

 land. On the 27th, in 66° of latitude and 47° of longitude, he 

 convinced himself of the existence of a long reach of land ; but 

 huge islands of ice prevented his approaching it. The magni- 

 ficence of the aurora australis, appearing now under the forms 

 of grand architectural columns and now as the fringes of 

 tapestry, drew the attention of the sailors so constantly towards 

 the heavens that they neglected to watch the ship's track amid 



