THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS.
The Antarctic Regions. By Dr. Karl Frisker. (Swan Sonnen- schein and Co. 7s. 6d.)—The Antarctic never can have the interest that attaches to the Arctic ; there are no Eskimo, nor is animal life so abundant ; yet it has furnished some splendid instances of determined audacity. The names of Cook, Bellings- hamien, Waddell, Biscoe, Wilkes, Ross, and Dumont d'Urville are associated with terrific storms and enormous icebergs, such storms and icebergs as Arctic navigators rarely met with. More- over, the vessels engaged in Antarctic research were such as to take the student back to the days of Columbus and Drake. Biscoe and Waddell had a brig and a small cutter each ; Balleny only a schooner and cutter, the latter having a tonnage of fifty- four. Biscoe, the seal-hunter, did more for Antarctic exploration than many strictly exploring expeditions, and so reduced were his crew with scurvy that he was compelled to sail north because there were only three officers, a seaman, and a cabin boy to work his brig. We can imagine that the first sight of the great ice barrier must have impressed these intrepid men more than any Arctic dangers. Ross's account of it, and his determined attempt to reach the Magnetic Pole, his avoidance of mistakes, his admir- able equipment, and his triumphant return after four years with all his crew in good health and only one missing—the quarter- master of the • Erebus,' drowned in a storm—surely ranks his voyage, as Dr. Frisker says, "as one of the most famous and brilliant of all voyages of discovery." Yet for the reason we have given,- Arctic navigators are far better known. Ross in his " Travels " neglects too much the human element; nevertheless, he was the beau-ideal of an English navigator. We agree with Mr. Sonnenschein, the able translator, that Dr. Fricker's interesting and able review of Antarctic research, and his just discrimination of its heroes, will increase the number of those who desire to conquer the secrets of the South Pole. The illus- trations are clever and suggestive.
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