70th to the 79th deg. of latitude, and was distinguished by the name of our beloved Sovereign.

Their way from hence lay near the chain of islands discovered by Balleney in 1839, and more extensively explored by the American and French expeditions in the following year. On the 4th of March they recrossed the antarctic circle, and being necessarily close by the eastern extremity of those patches of land, which Lieu tenant Wilkes has called "the antarctic continent;" and having reached their latitude on the 5th, they steered directly for them; and at noon on the 6th, the ships being exactly over the centre of this mountain range, they could obtain no soundings with 600 fathoms of line; and having traversed a space of eighty miles in every direction from this spot, during beautifully clear weather, which extended their vision widely around, were obliged to confess that this position, at least, of the pseudo-antarctic continent, and the nearly 200 miles of barrier represented to extend from it, have no real existence!

Continuing to bear westward, the expedition approached the place where Prof. Gauss supposed the magnetic pole to be, which was proved, by extended investigation, to be erroneous; and they then, April 4, departed for Van Diemen's Land.

No disease or casualty of any kind attended their first labours, and there was not one individual in either ship on the sick list! Sir John Franklin, too, the estimable friend and arctic companion of Ross, was still at the opposite pole ready to welcome and entertain him. It was, doubtless, a happy meeting.

SECOND YEAR.

The magnetometers, &c., again strictly compared with those of the fixed observatory, the crews refreshed, the ships refitted, the gallant band again proceeded with their arduous task. The expedition went to Sydney and Bay of Islands, in order to extend the magnetic observations, and finish meteorological and other philosophical experiments. These at the antipodes of European observatories, and equally separated from each other, are of much interest to science; and have decided the important question of the exact correspondence of the momentary magnetic perturbations. The perturbations at Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand were found to be in exact accordance.

Nov. 23, 1841. They sailed from the Bay of Islands, and passing by the Chatham Islands, bore away to the eastward to examine the supposed position of the focus of greater magnetic intensity, and, favoured with fine weather, obtained a series of observations which demonstrated the error of the assigned position. They accordingly proceeded to the south, to resume the examination of the antarctic seas.

Dec. 18. In lat. 62 deg. 28 min. S., and long. 146 deg. 57 min. W. they made the pack 300 miles further north than before; which unexpected obstruction showed that they were too early for the season. They entered, however, and pursued their voyage for 300 miles, when it became so close that they could push the ships no more to the southward. With untiring zeal and unflinching fatigue of officers and men, it was again new-year's day, 1842, be

fore they could cross the antarctic circle. The intense brightness of the sky foreshowed them that they would still have to encounter vast bodies of ice in that direction, whilst more encouraging appearances held out inducement to try their fortune to the westward. By January 19, they had succeeded in reaching within a few miles of the open water, when a violent gale sprung up, and placed them in a situation of appalling jeopardy. The rudder of the Erebus was shattered, and that of the Terror was soon after utterly destroyed; and violent shocks against the ice for twenty-six hours, as they rolled deeply among its heavy masses, severely tried their strength and threatened their existence. On the 21st the gale abated; and though driven back far into, and closely beset by, the pack, they went to work to repair damages and prepare for new efforts. Their condition was very helpless, and their vexation the greater, as the last days were fast shortening, and the season drawing to a close. They had, however, gone through the pack in a direct line 450 miles, and were more south than Cook or Bellinghausen had been able to reach in more favourable seasons. At length, February 2nd, they cleared the pack in lat. 67 deg. 28 min. S., and long. 159 deg. E., after an imprisonment of forty-six days in the "thick-ribbed ice." This was only ten days earlier than they had been obliged to abandon their operations the year before; but still they advanced to see what could be done. They pursued their course to the south ward along the edge of the pack, but it was found to trend to the westward across their course,

farther in that direction than was wished; and a continuance of violent gales added more to their difficulties. They fought against every obstacle, and at midnight, on the 22nd, they had the satisfaction to make the great barrier a few miles to the eastward of the spot where the examination of last year had concluded. This enormous mass gradually diminishes, from its commencement at the foot of Mount Erebus, where it is about 220 feet, to 150 feet at the eastern extreme, as far as could be seen. At the point now reached it was farther diminished to 107 feet, and broken into deep bays and low projections, not above from 50 to 70 feet high. Soundings in a bed of blue mud were obtained at 290 fathoms, which, together with the strong appearance of land, gently rising in ridges to the height of several hundred feet, at a distance of fifty or sixty miles from the barrier, leaves little doubt of the existence of an extensive country to the southward, but so entirely covered with perpetual ice, as to conceal every conceivable feature of marked character to establish its positive existence.

The barrier was, with a strong breeze, traced about 130 miles farther eastward than in the preceding year, but all beyond was fruitless. Captain Ross therefore retraced his course, and, where he was before prevented by the weather and fogs, obtained two additional lines of magnetic determinations at no great distance from the pole, by which its position can be still more accurately ascertained. The antarctic circle was again repassed, and another hazardous enterprize undertaken, in these

the opinion regarding the nonexistence of the supposed focus of magnetic force. On the 12th of March, in a heavy breeze, the ships were driven into violent collision with an extensive chain of icebergs, and the bowsprit, foretopmast, and some smaller spars of the Erebus, were carried away and lost. The vessels were providentially preserved from being dashed to pieces; and the coolness, promptitude, and activity of their crews were never more energetically displayed. A direct course was held for Cape Horn, as far from the tracks of former navigators as possible; and in a heavy gale, James Angeley, quartermaster, fell overboard and was drowned, the only casualty during 136 days of arduous duty, and again without one man on the sick list. Provisions were supplied from Rio de Janeiro, and the ships were put in as complete a condition to renew operations as the day they sailed from England.

THIRD YEAR.

On the morning of December 17, 1842, the expedition sailed from the Falkland Islands, and on the 24th saw the first icebergs, when nearly in the latitude of Clarence Island; and next day their progress was arrested by a rather solid pack. The 26th was spent in endeavouring to find out a penetrable part, and they were led to stand along its edge to the westward. Captain Ross, being persuaded that the great extent of open water found by our late worthy friend, Captain Weddell, to the 74th degree of latitude, was produced by the prevailing westerly winds driving the ice away from some extensive shore, proba

Land-determined, if he could, to get hold of that coast, and penetrate to the southward and eastward, between its shores and the pack, and thus he hoped to arrive at the open part of the open sea found by Weddell; deeming it more desirable to trace the land to the southward than to attempt to follow his track, from which no discovery could be expected. On the 28th they discovered land, extending S. to S.W. by W.; but its shores lined with so extraordinary an accumulation of grounded icebergs, as to prevent all approach nearer than three or four miles. They had, therefore, only to pass along and examine the coast as they could. The whole land, with the exception of two bold projecting headlands near its north extreme, was found to be entirely covered with snow or ice, which descended from the height of 2,000 or 3,000 feet into the sea, where, broken by the violence of the waves, it formed perpendicular icy cliffs of from 20 to 30 feet high, from which the bergs already mentioned constantly broke away and grounded in the shallow water. Between them the whirlpools, caused by a strong tide, were very troublesome; and several small islets, quite free from snow were observed extending to the south-eastward from the farthest visible point of the land. A dense fog arose, and compelled the expedition to haul off to the eastward, where they soon met with the western edge of the packs. On the evening of the 30th they again closed the land, and steered across a deep gulf for the extreme point; but the pack was close against its shores and by the 4th, in 644 deg. S., the ships were

the northward, Next day they were extricated, and finally succeeded in landing on an island at the extreme of a deep inlet on the south side of the gulf, which Captain Ross took possession of in Her Majesty's name. This island is of volcanic origin, and though not more than two miles in diameter, projects a perfectly formed crater to the height of 3,500 feet above the level of the sea, It lies in lat. 64 deg. 12 min. S., and long. 56 deg. 49 min. W. A magnificent table-topped mountain to the westward rises to the height of 7,000 feet, and the whole western shore of this great gulf consists of mountainous ranges covered with everlasting snow. It was named the Gulf of Erebus and Terror: is about forty miles between the capes, and nearly as many miles deep. Excepting the south part, it was full of heavy pack-ice, and there were two spaces at its deepest parts where no land could be discerned, and which probably communicate with Bransfield Strait. In the evening, the ice being driven off the laud, they rounded the south part of the gulf, and coursed the land to the south westward, between its shore and a chain of grounded bergs two or three miles distant. All this portion was free from snow for twenty miles, when they again came to perpendicular icy cliffs descending from a snow-covered mountain, about 2,000 feet high. This was a complete barrier in miniature, and tended to confirm Captain Ross's opinion, that an extensive continent exists to the southward of the great barrier discovered in 1841, extending to the east 450 miles from Mount Erebus.

Ice, in various forms, beset them

were taken on that which was fixed. No doubt remained that the strait before spoken of communicated with Bransfield Strait, and probably with the Canal d'Orleans; but it was so completely closed that nothing farther could be done to decide this geographical point. The struggles with the ice continued to the 1st of February, when it became essential to extricate the ships, and endeavour to penetrate to the south. On the 4th they succeeded in gaining the pack-edge, and were once more in clear water, after having been more or less entangled for the space of forty days. East winds and thick fogs prevailed, and the best of the season was past. They, however, in lat. 65 deg., nearly crossed Weddell's returning track, and found pack-ice where he had perfectly clear sea. They could not penetrate beyond lat. 65 deg. 15 min. S., where their position was 100 miles to the southward of Admiral d'Urville's track, where he unsuccessfully attempted to follow the route so nobly achieved by our countryman Weddell. On the 22nd they crossed the line of the no-variation, in lat. 61 deg., and long. 24 deg. W., in a dip of 57 deg. 40 min.; a fact of much importance to magnetic science, since the observations appear to prove that the supposition of there being two magnetic poles of verticity in the south (as is well known to be the case in the north) is erroneous, and that there is in reality but one magnetic pole in the southern hemisphere.

We may notice that the whole of this year's observations tend in a remarkable manner to confirm the position assigned to this pole by Captain Ross from his first year's

On the 23rd they rounded the last extreme of the pack, and stood to the S.E., and crossed the antarctic circle on the first of March in long. 7 deg, W. From judicious considerations, Captain Ross now tried to penetrate to the southward in the meridian exactly between Bellhausen's and Weddell's tracts, and consequently stood to the S.W. On the 23rd, in lat. 68 deg. 34 min., and long. 12 deg. 49 min. W., he was becalmed, and seized the opportunity to try for soundings, but 4,000 fathoms of line failed to reach the ground. This great depth is against the probability of meeting with land near. For some time, however, they persevered in an attempt to get farther to the south, but the ice was too strong for them, and considerable danger was encountered in a tempestuous gale, which lasted, without interruption, during three days. The darkness of the nights and the number of icebergs seemed only to increase the confidence and courage of the men; and the management of the ships was, throughout, most worthy of admiration. At length, on the 8th, the wind veered to the eastward, and with hearts overflowing with gratitude to God for his merciful protection, when human efforts were all but useless and unavailing, our brave fellows were in safety, and steering for the north. It was not, however, till the 12th that they were relieved from the apprehension of being driven against the still-threatening pack.

On the 17th they reached the latitude of Bouvet Island, 64 deg. 19 min., about 8 deg. to the westward of the assigned position; but they, like Cook, searched for it in vain, and Captain Ross con

ceived by the form of an iceberg. The last berg was seen on the 25th, in lat. 47 deg. 3 min. S., and long. 10 deg. 51 min. E., when bearing away before a fair gale for the Cape of Good Hope, where the expedition prosperously achored on the 4th of April.

In the third season, it will thus be seen, they did not penetrate so far as Weddell; yet the unusual prevalence of easterly winds preventing the pack from drifting off shore, was the means of enabling them to reach the lat. of 71 deg. S., on a meridian usually occupied by the pack when driven by the prevailing westerly winds from the east shore of Graham's Land, and extending their researches in that meridian (15 deg. W.), 12 deg. of latitude beyond their predecessors, Cook, Bellinghausen, and Biscoe.

The discovery and examination of a considerable extent of unknown coast, proving the insularity of those portions of land first discovered by Bransfield in 1820, for years afterwards frequented by our sealers in search of their prey, and finally, in 1839, seen by Admiral d'Urville, and called by him "Louis Philippe's Land," cannot but be regarded as important additions to our knowledge of those parts, which, though islands of inconsiderable size, might have extended, and were supposed to extend, even to the pole.

At the end of April the Erebus and Terror left the Cape of Good Hope, and touched at St. Helena and Ascension, for the purpose of repeating the magnetic observations they had formerly made, and verifying their instruments. In order to render the whole series complete, it was necessary to re