ABSTRACT
In the beginning of the year 1839, the British Government having determined on fitting out an Expedition, for the purpose of investigating the phenomena of Terrestrial Magnetism in various remote countries, and for prosecuting Maritime Geographical Discovery in the high southern latitudes, H.M. Ships Erebus and Terror, commissioned by Captain Sir James Clark Ross, sailed from Chatham on the 29th of September 1839. In addition to carrying out the above-mentioned leading views, it was enjoined to the officers, that they should use every exertion to collect the various objects of Natural History which the many heretofore unexplored countries about to be visited would afford.
