VICTORIA LAND 287 
though Wilkes, as we have seen, subsequently explained 
it as a clumsy attempt to show the approximate position 
of Balleny Islands. One of the officers indeed reported 
an appearance of land bearing in the exact direction of 
the Balleny Islands, but these were seventy or eighty 
miles distant. Although Wilkes had claimed no per- 
sonal discoveries so far to the east, the opinion pre- 
vailed on board the British ships that they had sailed 
over a part of the “ Antarctic Continent ” of the Ameri- 
can exploring expedition. We have discussed the un- 
pleasant episode of the controversy in sufficient detail in 
an earlier chapter. 
It remained to traverse the belt of pack-ice which in- 
tervened between the comparatively open sea to the south 
along Victoria Land and the ocean. This was a task of 
danger and difficulty, but it was accomplished without 
damage, thanks to the skill born of long experience with 
which the ships were handled, and by March 20th the 
pack was cleared. 
A point of interest in magnetic theory remained to be 
cleared up, and as his crews were in excellent health, 
Ross sailed along the pack to the westward in order to 
determine the magnetic dip on the line of no variation in 
longitude 135 0 E. This was done in a thorough manner 
and on some days when the wind fell calm the insatiable 
explorer had the boats out and took deep-sea soundings, 
one of them striking bottom in the depth very rarely 
measured in those days of 1540 fathoms. 
On April 6th, 1841, Ross had the pride and satisfac- 
tion of sailing into the Derwent River in Van Diemen’s 
Land, after an absence of 145 days in the Antarctic 
regions, with his ships in as good condition as when they 
started, with every man who sailed with him still on 
