The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1877-02-16
THE SOUTH POLE.
Exploration and Expeditions in Seareh
or an Antarctic Continent.

Not SO much for the purpose of dis
covering new lands in the south, as to
obtain information concerning the south
magnetic pole "a ma ter Of much import
ance 10 science, the British government
fitted ouS the Erebus and Terror, and
placed them under James Ross. with
Crozier as his seconu in command. They
left England in 1889 and did not see it
again for four ears.
| Wonderful - was to see raging vol
cano in such q reoion. A long stretch of
land was seen De marked hy two mag
| nificens mour ta'aS; one of W ich, an ac-
tive vo'ceDo, twelve thousand ieet high,
received TIE name of Mount Erebus !;
while ovher an exti"ct volcano of
somew .at 'ess i shS, was naned after
the companion shi , Terror. An npmis-
taxable volcano was Erebus. Such a
magnificent combination of volcanic fire
and endless ice probably rever before
met human G ce, for Mount Hecta, in Ire
land, must be far inferior to it.
Ross did DO5 winter in thai remote
region; i"deed, so far rs is krown, no
human being ever passed winter among
the antartic ice. Ross spent three sum.
mers in his exploration, while ie housed
his snip for the intervening winters,
either at Tasmania or the Falkland
islands. Among the early explorers of
the mysterious Southern ocean were
Juan Fernandez, Dirk Gerritz, Pedro
Fernandez de QIiros, Capt. Cook, We'd
dell, Dumont d'Uurville and Wilkes.
We might also, if their discoveries had
borne such fruit, notice more fully the
expedition of Kerguelen, v no discovered
the i1land named after him liotle more I
ol- Nf
Smith, Powell PalnCr aud Belliu@hau- |
sen, fifty-s.x ears ago, esulting in the |
discovery OF SoI'h Shetland. South |
Orkney. Palmer's land, aud Alexander |
land. Ibose fitted OFT by Messrs. En-
DERBY, the liberal and energetic promo
ters of wnale and seal fishing in the
Sor .hern ocear, are worthy OF brief re-
coId; for two vesse' rlNced by them
under Captains Bi,coe end Balleny, sailed
init egiOus wi, 'ch le,i TO the discovery
of Enderby land, Balleny land and Sa
briua land.
One object of Sir Jnmes Ross expedi
tion was, # 1ssib'e to reach the south
ms. ,netic po:e-a different point from
the souLu Terrestrial pole. The great
icy barrier prevented The realization of
thai hope. A few years Ego Lieutenant
Moore, in the P.goda, set eff TO make
magnetic ob"ervat;Ons in the antarctic
circle that had not been visited; he did
so, apG rendered great service t0 science,
but d. not .eS thin l 400 miles Of the
tantalizi pole.
The reader will remember that two
years ago tie astronomers OF the whole
world were lreatl y interested iL a tran
sit of Vend'; cOll ct observations OF
which would, it WIS believed, afford data
for calculating the true distance of the
sun from tie earth, and from all the
other planets. Il was desirable to make |
the observations at many dif1erenC spots,
widely separated both in latitude and in
loucfsEde and one OF the spOts selected
was Kerguelen's island, already men
Jioncd sitdaied ba,ween tie Cape of
Good 4'ope and Aus ra'ia, uS farther
sou.h than either. Astronomers hom
{ rmanY 9nd the United
States nG / on the isla"d AID did good
work thee, but (and this is the &c son
why We lreDtion the matter heTe) the
,ouc hnesi OF the cl; nate was Il grea. tri:l /
o rem. Al '-hOu2h fu tber nom the !
ou n pole than any pAIt Of England is
rom the nS.th po'e, the Wea,tcr was
nearly always stormy. ord the tempera-
ure Verg;ng on the a eziug- 20 1t, even
n the summer of at bemisphCre. I
Astronomers are considering of appeal = =
ng to TIE SoItheTn ocean ain five !,
ears ence, when anosGer transit of
Yenus Gill take place, and when still =
lore Gdvar tage is ey Iected 10 he de-
wed from the use of a situation as near = =
he antarctic pole as possible. Ia order ?
D give there h"rC working astronomers Y
lir plry, i world We no more than right II
} sena ouy an e<peo ;tion year or two y
! adv-nce to "CcuI1Glate as many useful 9.
nd geogr t:h;csl facts as might be At :; =;
ainable and = is j.'st )ssible that, IN \
, doing, Sir J-pes Ross seventy-eigh.h y
egree of l.si.rce mighs be OTerpassed, "
,peciall ss they m;., now have, what = =
oss haze rot, steam power wnerewith to ';
,ntehd alike against calms and adverse =,
inds. y;
Whit we know of the sou h pole, then, VI VI
sim y this-tbat nobody h"s got with r
seven or eigh5 EuDdleu les of IL F.
lat 'cy ',arriers are met with quite ec;ips- u
% IN hing known i'll tre north frigid sl
,rt; th:t ! IoIntains have been seen r
re shoosiry forth volcanic fames) lof- W
er AN p, disc svcred by our nort 1ern IL IL
Ip' Je.s; tha5 all the J md is covered " "
ita snow at sll seasons; that no human ., -
,ing hes been rec with eyOnd fifty-s;x ~ =.
,g1ees of l2ti.Lde that no vegetable al al
'Owth except Ech 8, has been seen be. r.
md y-e' t degrees of latitude; and =. ~
at DO lard qusdruped is known to exist ~ =,
,yony :ixty-six degrees of latitude. - -