mariners began to approach
the coasts of the mysterious mainland which extends around the southern
pole of the earth. Ross, who in 1831 discovered the north magnetic pole,
sailed ten years later in two ships, the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_
(afterwards to become so famous with Franklin), along the coast of the
most southern of all seas, a sea which still bears his name. He
discovered an active volcano, not much less than 13,000 feet high, and
named it Erebus, while to another extinct volcano he gave the name of
Terror. And he saw the lofty ice barrier, which in some places is as
much as 300 feet high.

At a much later time there was great rivalry among European nations to
contribute to the knowledge of the world's sixth continent. In the year
1901 an English expedition under Captain Scott was despatched to the sea
and coasts first visited by Ross. Captain Scott made great and important
discoveries on the coast of the sixth continent, and advanced nearer to
the South Pole than any of his predecessors. One of the members of the
expedition followed his example some years later. His name is
Shackleton, and his journey is famous far and wide.

Shackleton resolved to advance from his winter quarters as far as
possible towards the South Pole, and with only three other men he set
out at the end of October, 1908. His sledges were drawn by strong, plump
ponies obtained from Manchuria. They were fed with maize, compressed
fodder, and concentrated food, but when during the journey they had to
be put on short commons they ate up straps, rope ends, and one another's
tails. The four men had provisions for fully three months.

While the smoke rose from the crater of Erebus, Shackleton marched
southwards over snow-covered ice. Sometimes the snow was soft and
troublesome, sometimes covered with a hard crust hiding dangerous
crevasses in the mass of ice. At the camps the adventurers set up their
two tents and crept into their sleeping-bags, while the ponies, covered
with horse-cloths, stood and slept outside. Sometimes they had to remain
stationary for a day or two when snowstorms stopped their progress.

[Illustration: THE SOUTH POLAR REGIONS.]

When the sun was hidden by clouds the illumination was perplexing. No
shadows revealed the unevenness of the snowfield, all was of the purest
white, and where the men thought they were walking over level ground,
they might quite unexpectedly come down on their noses down a small
slope. Once t