JAMES COOK 8r 
fortnight was spent in surveying the neighbouring islands 
and sounds. Then Cook set sail to the eastward to ex- 
plore the Gulf of St. Sebastian, a great bay in the coast- 
line of Dalrymple’s Southern Continent. But past ex- 
perience of Dalrymple’s chart had filled Cook’s mind with 
doubt as to the existence of any such coast-line, and when 
he found open sea in fact, where land was indicated on 
paper, he turned at once to a more hopeful quest. This 
was the land discovered by La Roche in 1675, an( ^ seen 
again by the ship Leon in 1756, which was reported to be 
in 54 0 30' S., though the longitude was shown differently 
in various maps. Land was sighted on January 14th, 
1775 > first ^ seemed to be only an ice island, but a 
sounding in 175 fathoms confirmed the opinion that it 
was indeed land, and from its thick covering of snow 
it seemed to be of great extent. On the 16th the Reso- 
lution was close up to the north coast, and during that 
day and the next cruised along it, naming the capes and 
bays. Three landings were made at different points, 
the British flag was hoisted and the captain “ took pos- 
session of the Isle of Georgia in his Majesty’s name, 
under a discharge of small arms.” 
This was the first discovery of a typical Antarctic land. 
True, it lay in a latitude corresponding to that of the 
north of England, but even at midsummer it possessed 
the climate of Greenland. Ice-cliffs came down at the 
head of the bays and masses of ice were continually 
breaking off and floating out to sea. If the coast was 
repellant, “ the inner parts of the country were not less 
savage and horrible. The wild rocks raised their lofty 
summits till they were lost in the clouds, and the valleys 
lay covered with everlasting snow. Not a tree was to 
be seen, nor a shrub even big enough to make a tooth- 
6 
