58 
THE OCEAN WOULD. 
the transition, or coal formation. According to the map of Adel® 5 
Land, traced by D’Urville over an extent of thirty leagues of countl)' 
the region is one of death and desolation, without any trace of vegetatk®' 
A little more to the north, the French navigator had a vag® 8 
vision on the white lines of the horizon of another land, which l" 1 
named Coast Clear (Cote Clarie), the existence of which was soon c<®' 
firmed hy the American expedition under Commodore Wilkes. Tb® 
officer has explored the southern land on a larger scale than any otlE 1 
navigator, but he suffered himself to be led into error by the detfF 
fogs of the region, and has laid down coast lines on his map wh® 8 
Sir James Ross subsequently found only open sea — an error whit* 1 
has very unjustly thrown discredit on the whole expedition. 
The English expedition entered this region on Christmas Day, lSf* 1, 
which was passed by Ross in a strong gale, with constant snow 
rain. Soon after, the first icebergs were seen, having flat tabid®’ 
summits, in some instances two miles in circumference, bounded on ^ 
sides by perpendicular cliffs. On New Year’s Day, 1841, the ship* 
crossed the Antarctic Circle, and reached the edge of the pack k (1, 
which they entered, after skirting it for several days. On the 5tli, tb*’ 
pack was passed through, amid blinding snow and thick fog, whi® 1 
on clearing away revealed an open sea, and on the 11th of January la®* 
was seen directly ahead of the ships. A coast line rose in lofty snOy 
covered peaks at a great distance. On a nearer view, this coast > 8 
thus described : “ It was a beautifully clear evening, and two magid®' 
cent ranges of mountains rose to elevations varying from seven the®' 
sand to ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. The glacic® 
which filled their intervening valleys, and which descended from m’®’ 
the mountain summits, projected in many places several miles into tl’ c 
sea, and terminated in lofty perpendicular cliffs. In a few places tb e 
rocks broke through their icy covering, by which alone we could H 
assured that lava formed the nucleus of this, to all appearand 
enormous iceberg. This antarctic land was named Victoria Land, 
honour of the Queen. It was coasted up to latitude seventy-eig® 
degrees south, and near to this a magnificent volcanic mountain pf® 
sented itself, rising twelve thousand feet above the level of the se® . 
which emitted flame and smoke in splendid profusion. The flanks °*. 
this gigantic mountain were clothed with snow almost to the mouth °* 
the crater from which the flaming smoke issued. 
At a short distant 
