ch. liv] Revival of Antarctic Exploration 431 
Victoria in granting £5000, enclosing a characteristic 
report from the Board of Trade to the effect that there 
were no trade returns from the Antarctic regions. Then 
Oscar Dickson, the munificent Swedish promoter of polar 
voyages, offered to give the £5000 to the Victoria Govern- 
ment which our Government had refused, but then the 
Colony drew back. During this time we were warmly 
supported by Baron Miiller of the Botanical Gardens at 
Melbourne, by Captain Pascoe, R.N., and by other geo- 
graphers in that colony. From Baron Miiller especially I 
received most enthusiastic letters, Sir Erasmus Ommanney 
active^ supported and raised the Antarctic question at 
the Berne Congress, while Captain Davis continued to 
work steadily in the good cause until his death. 
In 1892 I heard from Captain David Gray that it 
was intended to send three Scotch whalers to the south, 
in consequence of the numbers of whales mentioned in 
the narrative of Sir James Ross. Accordingly the Active, 
Balaena, and Diana were despatched, but the result was 
disappointing. They never even crossed the Antarctic 
Circle. The Active, in South Shetland waters, found that 
what was supposed to be Joinville Island really consisted 
of two islands, one much larger than the other; the 
smaller one, which the Active sailed round, was named 
Dundee Island. That was all: the voyage was not 
pecuniarily successful and was not repeated. 
The Norwegian, Captain Larsen of the Jason, was much 
more enterprising. He landed on Sir George Seymour's 
Island in 1892, and found several pieces of fossil wood 
and some fossil bivalves, a most important discovery. 
His voyage was considered so promising in Norway that 
in the following year he was sent again in the Jason with 
two other vessels in company, the Hertha and Castor. 
On the 18th November, 1893, Larsen again landed on 
Sir George Seymour's Island to make collections, and 
then proceeded down the east coast of Graham Land, 
the best side for an advance south. In 65 0 44' S. he named 
a lofty peak Mount Jason. He observed several deep 
fjords, and the ice terraces resting on the slope of the 
mountains with their bases on the sea bottom. They 
are similar to the ice-foot up Smith Sound, but on a 
gigantic scale. On the 6th December Larsen had reached 
