The morning call., 1894-05-15
THE NEW ANTARCTIC EXPE-
DiTION.

The chief problem which the new Ant
arctic expedition will have to solve Is
whether there is or is not any animal or
vegetable life on the Antarctic continent.
The prevailing impression Is that there is
not. Although single haul of the Chal-
lenger's trawl brought to the surface
from the waters that wash that con tin ent
as many as 1900 sharks teeth. showing an
exuberance of marine life unknown in
northern waters. 1t is believed that the
land is absolutely destitute of living organ
izations. being in this respect unlike the
corresponding regions of the northern
hemisphere. on which flowers and butter
flies have been found in SO degrees north
latitude.
Still, this is merely conjecture. 10 the
best of our knowledge no human being
has ever set foot on the southern con-
linent, Captain Ross and the other navi-
gators from whom we have derived our
knowledge OF 1t. having merely landed on
outlying islands. According to their
accounts the land is bordered by wall of
ice W ieh is impenetrable. and which has
been followed for hundreds of miles with
out an opening being discovered. What
may be an open sea Strewn with islands,
as In the north polar region, or, as
w. John Murray believes. there may be
an ice-covered continental plateau like
Greenland, with active volcanoes in opera-
tlon. In either case, but especially in the
latter, an exploration of the continent
might help US to understand the glacial era.
Next year or the year after we should
know whether a vessel can cross the North
Polar Sea from the Siberian Islands to
North Greenland. If the voyage meets
with o lmpediment in the shape of fixed
ice 1t will be possible to make map of
the North Polar region which will be re-
liable; we shall then know what we now
only conjecture, that the Arctic Ocean is a
circular body of water inclosed by the
coasts of North America, Northern Eu-
rope, Siberia aud Greenland. 1t Is OF
course possible that the land seen inside
of the Antarctic circle is like wise mere
string of islands. inclosing between them
an open sea, possibly with lower tenn
perature than the islands themselves. 1t
will be remembered that explorers in the
North Polar regions bave reached points
four degrees nearer the pole than Mounts
Erebns and Terror, which are the most
sOutherly points reached by Antarctic ex-
porers.
The chief difficulty of exploring the
Antarctic region arises from the enormous
quantities of drift ice which circle around
the Antarctic continent The drift in
places circles as far north as As degrees,
and again 1t hugs the pack in along the
Antarctic circle, and it needs extraordi-
narily care ul navigation not only TO DeDe-
trate it but to avoid being carried away by
il. The power of body of broken ice
scores OF miles square sweeping along
with f0uT-mile current is prodigious and
can hardly be measured.
a few years ago Antarctic explorers
used to calculate that their base would be
Kerguelen Island, for the reason that this
was the nearest land to the bay which
Ross entered, ana at the head of which
they supposed that he found Mounts
Erebus and Terror. But Macquarie Island,
which used to be British penal station,
is several degrees nearer the pole than
Kerguelen Island. and would, ii seems.
prove a better base. It is within a few
hours steaming from the southern harbors
OF Tasmania and New Zealand, and there
would be no difficulty in keeping rescue
ships in reserve there. From Macquare
Island to the ice barrier which appears
to form the coast line of the Southern
continent the distance is not over 500
miles