and twenty miles further to the southward than the point which Bellinghausen, in 1820, had been able to reach in this meridian. Continuing to the westward, on February 9th (1839), in lat. 66° 44′ S., and long. 163° 11′ E., they discovered five islands, since named Balleny Islands, from the name of the master of the Eliza Scott."
Now, knowing that Lieutenant Wilkes was in possession of this exact information soon after his arrival at Sydney, and that his chart and letter were forwarded to me nearly a month after he had the Athenæum in his possession, from New Zealand, I cannot understand how he could possibly have intended a mountainous reef of land, extending between fifty and sixty miles in a S.W. and N.E. direction, and placed in lat. 65° 40′ S., and long. 165° E., to represent the five small islands of Balleny, which lie in lat. 66° 44′ S., and long. 163° ll′ E., and which we saw on the 4th March in the position assigned to them by their discoverer.
Nor have I since heard of or seen any statement that could assist me in coming to a different opinion from that I have above expressed: on the contrary, all I have heard since, more especially the statements of Lieutenant Ringgold before the court that tried Lieutenant Wilkes, in endeavouring to justify their claim to the priority of discovery over the French navigators, "that on the 13th January (1840), when in lat. 65° 8′ S., and long. 163° E.," as quoted in Lieutenant Wilkes's narrative[1]; "from
- ↑ Vol. ii. p. 291.
