Meanwhile, interest had been excited rather more towards the South Pole, and the land of which Cook had found traces in his search for the fabled Australian continent surrounding it.  He had reached as far south as 71.10 deg., when he was brought up by the great ice barrier.  In 1820-23 Weddell visited the South Shetlands, south of Cape Horn, and found an active volcano, even amidst the extreme cold of that district.  He reached as far south as 74 deg., but failed to come across land in that district.  In 1839 Bellany discovered the islands named after him, with a volcano twelve thousand feet high, and another still active on Buckle Island.  In 1839 a French expedition under Dumont d’Urville again visited and explored the South Shetlands; while, in the following year, Captain Wilkes, of the United States navy, discovered the land named after him.  But the most remarkable discovery made in Antarctica was that of Sir J. C. Ross, who had been sent by the Admiralty in 1840 to identify the South Magnetic Pole, as we have seen he had discovered that of the north.  With the two ships Erebus and Terror he discovered Victoria Land and the two active volcanoes named after his ships, and pouring forth flaming lava, amidst the snow.  In January 1842 he reached farthest south, 76 deg..  Since his time little has been attempted in the south, though in the winter of 1894-95 C. E. Borchgrevink again visited Victoria Land.

[Illustration:  NORTH POLAR REGION—­WESTERN HALF.]

On the return of the Erebus and Terror from the South Seas the government placed these two vessels at the disposal of Franklin (who had been knighted for his previous discoveries), and on the 26th of May 1845 he started with one hundred and twenty-nine souls on board the two vessels, which were provisioned up to July 1848.  They were last seen by a whaler on the 26th July of the former year waiting to pass into Lancaster Sound.  After penetrating as far north as 77 deg., through Wellington Channel, Franklin was obliged to winter upon Beechey Island, and in the following year (September 1846) his two ships were beset in Victoria Strait, about twelve miles from King William Land.  Curiously enough, in the following year (1847) J. Rae had been despatched by land from Cape Repulse in Hudson’s Bay, and had coasted along the east coast of Boothia, thus connecting Ross’s and Franklin’s coast journeys with Hudson’s Bay.  On 18th April 1847 Rae had reached a point on Boothia less than 150 miles from Franklin on the other side of it.  Less than two months later, on the 11th June, Franklin died on the Erebus.  His ships were only provisioned to July 1848, and remained still beset throughout the whole of 1847.  Crozier, upon whom the command devolved, left the ship with one hundred and five survivors to try and reach Back’s Fish River.  They struggled along the west coast of King William Land, but failed to reach their destination; disease, and even starvation, gradually lessened their numbers.  An old Eskimo woman, who had watched the melancholy procession, afterwards told M’Clintock they fell down and died as they walked.