An expedition was fitted out in England in 1839 for the purpose of making an attempt to reach the south magnetic pole, and it was placed under the command of Captain James Clarke Ross. He directed his course several degrees east of Balleny Island, and on the lst of January, 1841, passed the autarctio circle near 178° E. long. On the 11th of January ho discovered land near 41' S. lat., 172' 36' E. long., and soon found that it was a continuous coast, 'trending southward and rising in mountain peaks to the height of from 9000 to 12,000 feet, and covered with snow. On the 12th of January he effected a landing, and took possession of it in the name of the queen. He continued his course along the shores to 78° 4' S. let., tracing a coast-line of above 600 miles in length. In 77° 32' S. 1st., 167' E. long., he saw a mountain about 12,400 feet above the sea-level, which sent forth abundance of fire and smoke, to which he gave the name of Mount Erebus. East of this volcano he observed an extinct crater of somewhat lase elevation, which he called Mount Terror. At 78' 4' S. lat. his progress to the south was prevented by a barrier which presented a perpendicular face of at least 150 feet, along which he sailed eastward until he attained 168° 37' W. long. In the voyage of the following year he reached 6 miles farther south, and was stopped by the barrier in 78• 11' S. lat., 161' 27' W. long., the aurfece extending southward having the appearance of high mountains covered with snow. In 1843 Captain Ross, after adding to previous discoveries in Louis Philippe's Land, sailed eastward between CO' and 70' S. lat, and then southward, between the routes of Bellingshausen and Weddell, to 71' 30' S. lat., 14' 51' W. long., without any appearance of land.
The discoverers of these new countries have only in a very few caws been able to effect a landing, the coasts being skirted with a bank of either solid or broken ice, which generally extends from five to ten miles, and in some places to twenty miles, from the shore.
The land Is elevated, and even mountainous, at no great distance from the shored. Dumont D'Urville estimate"' the average elevation of the mountains in Ad6lie Land at about 1500 feet. They are covered with snow, even in February, and might easily be mistaken for icebergs, if some rocks did not rise from them, to the perpendicular sides of which the snow cannot adhere. Between the mountain ridges valleys are observed, but they are filled with snow and ice nearly to the summit& of the mountains, and these icy masses, being converted into glaciers, protrude into the sea. In summer enormous pieces are broken off from them, and to this cause are owing the numerous icebergs which render the navigation along these coasts more difficult and dangerous than in the most northern latitudes which have been visited by our whalers. Some portions of the coasts are of volcanic origin, especially those which lie south of the South Shetland Islands. Bellingshausen found an active volcano near 69° S. lat., and there is another on Palmer's Land. A volcano occurs also on Balleny Islands, which continually emits smoke.
No traces of vegetatiou have been discovered on any part of the more southern coasts, nor any quadruped& The birds were alba trosses, penguins, eaglets, Cape pigeons, king-birds, and :lollies. Whales have been observed in several places, especially humpbacked and fin backed whales, as also several kinds of seals. On Cockburn Island, in I,ouis Philippe's Land, there were found ninetecu species of plants, comprising mosses, algte, and lichens, seven of the species being peculiar to the island.