Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/257

Rh of carrying an extra supply of stores and a house, rather than lumber up the oceanographical ship with all this material. If the lie of the land be found to be as expected, a serious attempt would be made to cross the Antarctic Continent and to emerge somewhere along the coast of the Ross Sea, the journey being made more or less along the meridian of Greenwich on the Atlantic side, and continuing on about the 180th meridian on the Pacific side. Such a journey would be of more intrinsic value than a journey towards the South Pole and back. It would give a complete sectional idea of the continent of Antarctica, and the expedition would never be covering the same ground a second time. This is a big project, and one would have to face the chances of failure, but it ought to be attempted. Already England and Japan are in the field, and Germany and Australia are ready to start, and it is hoped that Scotland once more will shortly be enabled to join hands in co-operative exploration to the Antarctic Regions. Shackleton and Scott have wisely led the way by actually trying motor power, which the author has been advocating for many years, for the accomplishment of such a journey. It is an experiment; it may fail, but it is more likely to succeed, and even if it fails it will be one step in advance towards the use of motor power in future Polar