280 CHAPTER XXL French Discovery squadron—Antarctic continent—French claims on New Zealand—Author’s object—Perforated rocks—Mimi-Wangati — Tuttikokka — Sawing — Harbour of refuge — Maraetai — The Tamaki—Volcanic district—Wyheke—An island home—Coroman del harbour—Mr. Webster—Geological rambles—Native fortresses —Warlike trophy—A female corpse. Towards the end of April, the Baj’ of Islands was visited by the French Discovery squadron, consisting of the Astrolabe” and “ Zelee,” commanded by Commodore D’Urville, who, after exploring the ice-bound and unin habitable region, visited about the same period by the American and British Discovery ships, was on his way to Europe. This long-anticipated discovery of a polar con tinent in the Pacific will be a monument to the rivalry of three great nations in the honourable field of science, but it seems obvious that a region presenting the contrast of burning volcanoes with perpetual ice and snow ; with a climate, probably, too cold for the lowest cryptogamic forms of vegetable life—the moss and the lichen—can never become an object of national contention. The discover}' of the south magnetic pole, by the commander of the “ Erebus,” at a point corresponding to the north magnetic pole, whose position was previously determined