452 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [partii 
ments under the able management of Lieutenant Royds, 
a most careful aud accurate observer and recorder, and 
the observations were two-hourly, taken by the officers 
of the watch. Special instruments were taken out for 
use on shore including spirit thermometers graduated as 
low as - 90 0 Fahr., and a Dines pressure anemometer. A 
photographic spectrometer was to be used for observing 
the auroras. 
The most important question to be decided was the 
direction the expedition should take. To consider it with 
care and understanding we divided the regions within the 
Antarctic Circle into four quadrants — the Victoria Quad- 
rant from 90 0 E. to 180 0 , the Ross Quadrant from 180 0 E. 
to 90 0 W., the Weddell Quadrant from 90 0 W. to o°, and 
the Enderby Quadrant from o° to 90 0 E. We knew from 
Captain Cook's conclusion, and he was always right, that 
there was an extensive continent round the south pole, 
and that the coast line came furthest north to the south 
of Australia and the Cape, and receded furthest south in 
the King George IV Sea of Weddell and the Pacific. The 
correctness of Captain Cook's view as regards the northern 
extension was proved by the discoveries of Balleny, 
Biscoe, and Kempe and confirmed, as regards Balleny's 
discoveries, by Dumont d'Urville and Wilkes. Apparently, 
in most parts of this coast, access would be impossible 
owing to the lofty ice cliffs. Moreover, merely sighting 
ice cliffs at a distance is of no use. The great discoveries 
of Sir James Ross offered far better opportunities of 
landing. I felt that the chief point should be the finding 
of the land of Antarctica, not the ice cap which conceals 
everything. The land would be found on coasts facing 
east, the east coast of Victoria Land, and east coast of 
Graham Land; the ice cliffs occur mainly on northern 
and western-facing coasts. 
The main object of the expedition, then, would be to 
explore this Antarctic continent by land, to ascertain its 
physical features, and above all to discover the character 
of its rocks, and to find fossils throwing light on its 
geological history. We therefore decided that the Discovery 
should follow in the wake of Sir James Ross, and winter 
on the Victorian coast. I was anxious that everything 
else should be left to the discretion of Captain Scott. 
