ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12229, 26 March 1903, Page 4

ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

"news which we publish to-day from the misty and mystic Antarctic will be read with deep and absorbing interest by all who follow with lively attention the attempts to penetrate into the white and frozen fastnesses of the Polar regions, The fascination which the unknown possesses for the human mind has been demonstrated in all ages, but it has been reserved for the present century to make any serious attempt to explore the terra incognita lying behind the great ice barrier which encloses the Antarctic zone. Cook, Weddell and Ross did much to extend our knowledge of this region, but what lay behind the wall of ice which blocked their further progress southward has until now remained a matter of conjecture, and has afforded scope for the exercise of the imagination. The explorations of the Discovery have to some extent lifted the veil, only to disclose lofty ranges of ice-coated mountains untrodden by the foot of man. But the results from a scientific point of view have been of great importance, and are a valuable contribution to our stock of knowledge of the geography of the globe and the conditions which obtain in the south polar regions which from the creation of the world have been a sealed book to our race.