CHAPTER XLIX 
DUMONT D'URVILLE AND WILKES 
In the year 1840 there were two exploring expeditions 
in the Pacific, a French and an American, and the 
commissions of both were drawing to a close. Both, 
however, intended to make runs towards the Antarctic 
Circle before returning home. Captain Dumont D'Urville 
had two ships, the Astrolabe and the Zelee, Com. Jacquinot, 
under his command. When he sailed southward from 
Plobart Town on January 1st, 1840, his intention was 
only to make a new exploration along the edge of the 
pack ice. Icebergs were first encountered on the 16th 
January, and on the 19th as many as 59 were counted 
round the ships. Their perpendicular walls towered over 
the masts, and the spectacle was at once grand and 
terrifying. D'Urville imagined himself in the narrow 
streets of a city of giants. Having threaded his way 
among the icebergs, he found the newly-discovered land 
only a few miles distant, covered with snow, and rising 
to a height of 6000 feet. D'Urville sailed along the coast 
to the westward, noticing some projecting headlands and 
shallow bays, but always faced by an ice wall which 
rendered all landing impossible. Some bare islets were 
seen, and each ship sent a boat towards them with two 
officers, MM. Duroch and Dubourget. After two hours' 
hard pulling the boats reached one of the islets and the 
observers landed, collected rock specimens, and hoisted 
the French flag. The islet was one of a group of eight or 
ten, separated from the nearest coast by rather less than 
a mile. 
Dumont D'Urville gave the name of Adelie to the 
newly-discovered land, and Cape Decouverte to a pro- 
montory sighted in the morning. 
For some days the French corvettes encountered a 
furious gale while surrounded by icebergs, and were in 
considerable danger, but the wind moderated and on 
