VICTORIA LAND 
275 
the southwest, straight across the land. It was necessary 
to decide whether the effort to turn the edge of the land 
was to be made by following it northwestward or south- 
ward from Cape Adare (71 0 S.). The latter course was 
adopted as it would be sure at least to lead into higher 
latitudes. During the night the ships got within two or 
three miles of a group of small islands close inshore, 
and on the morning of January 12th, 1841, Ross and 
Crozier, leaving the ships in the charge of the first lieu- 
tenants, got into their boats and pulled toward the shore 
to try to land. The coast of the mainland was quite 
inaccessible on account of the continuous belt of ice 
projecting into the sea beaten upon by heavy surf. A 
strong tide carrying with it floating masses of ice ran 
between the ice-bound mainland and the group of rocky 
islands so that the boats were almost unmanageable. 
They were fortunate however in getting into an eddy in 
the lee of the largest island and so were able to land on 
a beach of large loose stones and lumps of stranded ice. 
The weather had changed for the worse and was very 
threatening, the ships were flying signals to recall the 
boats so that the formalities had to be hastened. No 
time was lost in setting up a flagstaff, in hoisting the 
Union Jack as it had been hoisted on so many strange 
shores in distant seas, though never before on so strange 
and distant a land as this, and never in the presence of 
so unsavoury and clamourous a crowd of natives. Not 
human savages, but “ little old gentlemen in evening 
dress/’ as D’Urville called the penguins, assisted in 
inconceivable myriads ranged along the ledges and 
packed close on the level places of the island, when the 
first formula in which the name of Queen Victoria was 
pronounced in taking possession of a new land was 
