io8 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
being in lat. 69° 42' S., we crossed the meridian of 
Greenwich in a fine clear day, and with the wind from 
S. E. to S. S. W., from which quarter it had blown for 
the last four days. We now steered for the north and 
west for Sandwich Land.” 
Sandwich Land was reached on February 28th, and 
the interest of this part of the voyage makes a short dis- 
cussion necessary. Up to February 1st, the track from 
Kerguelen Land eastward lay to the north of Cook’s, 
and the point where the westward voyage began is in 
waters that have been frequently visited since 1823. If 
the course from this point had been due west no one 
would feel inclined to question it; and if Morrell had 
only stated the longitude at which he “ steered a little to 
the south ” and that at which he crossed the Antarctic 
circle we could easily follow and criticise the track. Ob- 
servations made by all subsequent voyagers in those seas 
show the extreme probability of southeasterly winds pre- 
vailing south of 64° S., and so far as we can ascertain, 
Morrell was the only man except Balleny who ever tried 
to sail westward for any distance south of 6o° S. with a 
view of penetrating the ice. All other explorers had 
tried to get south when sailing from west to east against 
the prevailing winds of high latitudes. If Morrell 
steered southward and crossed the Antarctic circle about 
IT 5 E., he must have passed to the southward of the land 
charted as Budd Land, Knox Land, Termination Land, 
Kemp Land, Enderby Land, and Kaiser Wilhelm II. 
Land, proving them (if they all exist) to be islands; 
but between his position south of Enderby Land in 
48 15 E., and the meridian of Greenwich, where he 
turned northward, his track lay so near the farthest south 
gained between those meridians by Cook, Biscoe, Bell- 
