The daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1892-1897, 1895-02-16
THE ANTARCTIC CIRCLE.
Region That Has Eeen Sadly Neglected
by the Explorers.


by the Explorers.
Neglect has met every proposal of
antarctic research for half a century.
The antarctic circle surrounds an
urea of over 5000, 600 square miles,
IN area larger than North America,
and this has only been crossed to any
distance in two places, southeast of
South America and south of New
Zealand. 1t is more than so years
since the almost simultaneous expe-
ditions of Wilkes from the United
States, D'Urville from France and
Ross from Britain sailed round this
enchanted circle, venturing across
it here and there, but attaining q
really high latitude only south of
New Zealand, where Ross, il 1912,
sighted the giant volcanoes which
perpetuate the names Of his ships
Erebus aud Terror in latitude rs de-
greeS south.
Here he saw bare rock and every
sign of an extensive land, but for the
rest all round the circle Of 10,CG0
miles there rises a vast wall OF ice,
broken south of each of the CONT
nents by signs of land evident il
naked rocks. The barrier wall of the
south is surrounded by detached
masses of floating ice, great table
shaped bergs, which drift slowly
northward Ike armed cruisers, pre-
serving the status quo of isolation.
No ship willingly ventures among
the southern ice, but many times
the ice, drifting northward into the
great ocean street along which the
brave west winds" drive the mer-
camille navies of tho world, has
quietly surrounded and sunk hap
less vessel.
The Scottish and Norwegian whal-
ers which spent the summer Of 1898
in sealing south of the Falkiands did
not try to press within the advance
guard of the ice foes. But their OBJ
servations were OF considerable sci
entific value This year, however,
the Norwegian whaler Jason had
the honor CT being the first steamer
to pass to any appreciable distance
south Of the antarctic circle, the
Challenger 20 years before having
barely crossed it. So much attention
has lately been concentrated on tie
unknown south polar regions, and
SO many problems of physical geog-
raphy have been shown to center
there, that at last the time seems
near when another attempt must be
made
Ross, with his sailing Ships, made
his way far south il 1872 eld 1S4S
without exceptional difficulty. We'd
dell in 1928 reached almost to IS de-
grees in very small vessel, and
Captain Cook il 1774 also crossed tho
seventieth parallel Amo3ern steam
whalcr would experience little diff
Guilty ii repeating ard surprising
these fcats, and there is scarcely any
doubt that a closer scrutiny world
reveal fiordlike openings or wide
bays in the unbrohen leo barrier of
the earlier voyagers.
Perhaps clear channels of water
may exist leading across the area in
a good season. For ali scientific pur-
poses exploration in the south viii
yield u far surer and richer reward
than in the north. 1t is tie last
chance left for q man of wealth to
write his name across a thousand
miles of blank space on the map OF
the world. The opportunity is now
open TO any one to find q continent
and solve the last gigantic problem
of exploration, and 100000 spent
in this direction would certainly
bring in the grandest harvest of pure
exploration left to be reaped from
the field of the world. Unknown
Parts of the World, by Hugh Robert
Mills in MoClure's Magazine.