Daily Yellowstone journal., 1885-10-25
A TERRA INC0GNlT.A.
THE SOUTH POLAR REGION INWT
ING TO TIE EXPLORER.


IlHNlNn EliiuhlI
fla glanre is cast over a map Of the
south Atlantic and Pacific, the efforts Of
The chartOgrapher seem to exhaust them
selves in srrie, of shadowy islands on
the very ou skirts Of the earth Victoria
land. Wilkes laud larie land, North
land, Sabrina land. Budd land, Knox
land, Term nation land Enderby land,
Trinity and aud Graham land all appear
like imperfec ly traced island. In reality,
II may be fuunl that they are only Capcs
or other bead anhs Of vast Antarctic
continent, which appears in fragments
about TIE South Polar Basin. To u.s.
however, these spots of earth are little
more than names, for the mighty barrier
of southern ice extends much further
north Than the corresponding obstacles TO
Navigation do south in the North Polar
basin. hence the nayigalors who al
wide iuIerva., aud along different meri,
diaus. have tried to penetrate II have
bee! able only 10 catch gimrscs OF this
Eiddeu word
.ui JANE, CLAIH ru-~.
Sir James lark ] Oss saw the volcano
Erebus Ui Victoria lawd bclChing forth
flames in lurd ma ,es,y over the snow!
wastes below But how far this iani
street hes. and what is the nature Of this
continent or of these continental island.
We can only guess. Capt , ODk wa, The
first sal or TO cross the Antarctic circle
but he did not consider it prudent 10 90
further .ul al his course, with the bound
less aCi a Il il, still unseen islands all
before tim, and e jnghausen. who fol.
lowed b M tory * years later. only sue.
CUCIH IL ndu ~ 10 few islCts t. those
which the iam0u, n-lisAman had Iii,
covered
or must W. or e; ID" many sealing
captains and lh.r> who. before -, ir James
Clark Os, Saiel un his memorable
expedition c attributed something
10 uur knowledge of his ice
enCrCird land, OF lhHi Capt
Wilkes who as lmmandrr If the
Son aCinIo. attained an uucnvinhle 10,
toriciy in nttcr years figured II 1872 as
an Anlartlc navigator ufuTtunalel ,
however, large portion OF the country
laid down by his expedition had aleady
been seen by his predecessors, while the
rest has since then been proved not II
exist
sir lanes Clark ross is indeed almost
the only AutlrCtiC explorer in the strict
sense # the term lie alone has ,irtel
ictria land lylag in about !. degrees
OF south latitude though he could only
report lof y mountains with reaSs 10, 0O1
{, ct high AID glaciers pouring through
their va cys To the sea Four degree:
further south he came in sight OF Mount
rebus 90 feet high, and sighted Ia
the eastward an extinct volcano not much
lower. which was named in honor Of the
Terror \ Derpend cular wall OF ice from
100 to o. feet high stopped all further
progress. and to the south nothing more
could lie seen. except the Parry range
appearing o, er the ice fields
l. tits HAS hes ADDED.
ince that day. fortyfour years ago
little. if anything. has been added to tn,
information gained by Ross The CbaI
lenger ran some distance south. But
though the officer made many usetu
scientific OF servations. which go far u
confirm the idea that the polar "islets
are really the headlands Of a continent
the gain to geography from their voyage
in this direction has been comparatively
slight
Here then. is a terra incognits for Z
new expedition, equipped with mean;
which were not at the dis posa Of Ross Ol
Dumont d rville. There ought to b.
little difficulty, provided the season b.
fairly "opeu'H in penetrating as far soutl
as the Erebus and Terror did, and ther
tie entire stretch of Victoria land lies be
fore the explorers II is difficult 10 he
lcve that the huge ice barrier which .os
saw does not come to an end before tin
circuit If he Antarctic basin is made, an,
if once il Is penetrated. or the suppuset
cOntin nj terminates abruptly. il is nit
possible that the sO-called barrier will u,
found to be merely the seward lermina
ton OF An Inland ice. " like that which
reaches the sea in the great glacier 81
Hum oldl along the northern shores Of
Greenland