Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/255

Rh will happen, and she might be beset and forced to winter, for which she must be thoroughly prepared. But if there is a wintering, it should, if possible, be by a party of about half-a-dozen men in a house on shore.

This project for Antarctic exploration does not lend itself in the least to the attainment of a high latitude. It is almost certain, in fact, that the ship in question would not pass the 75th parallel of latitude, and it is more than probable that it would pass little beyond 70° S., but there is no doubt that for systematic serious scientific work, this would be one of the most profitable forms of Antarctic exploration that we could undertake. A single example is again taken of what is to be done in Antarctic seas, but it might be pointed out that half-a-dozen ships doing this same work in similar but different areas all round the South Pole would all obtain results of the highest importance.

As regards land work in the Antarctic Regions, this can be undertaken more satisfactorily after we have obtained a more definite idea of the confines of the Great Southern Ocean around Antarctica. At present there is too much hazy conjecture, and we find what one believes to be part of Antarctica itself another declares to be an island. But the land work has begun, and to the keen landsman there is no reason why it should not be going ahead.