254
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. in. MARCH si, 1917.
Buckle Island, Borrode ..e Island, Young
Island, and Row Island. Sir James Clark
Ross saw them in 1842, but being in quite
a different position could not reconcile them
with Balleny's description and named them
the Russell Islands, under the impression
that they were new land. Capt. Scott
passed them in March, 1904, and found
Sturge Island to be much larger than
Balleny had supposed, more than twenty
miles long and with a high mountain on the
northern end.
On Mar. 2, 1839, when in lat. 6458'S..and long. 121 E., Balleny saw land to the south- ward, which he named Sabrina Land ; but as he was prevented by pack-ice from going near, and as no other vessel has seen this land, it is possible that he was mistaken. The Sabrina was lost in a storm on Mar. 24. The Eliza Scott returned safely to London on Sept. 17, 1839.
See Dr. H. R. Mill's ' Siege of the South Pole,' chap. viii. (Alston Rivers, 1905); also <}apt. Scott's ' Voyage of the Discovery ' (Smith & Elder, 1905), vol. i. p. 13, and vol. ii. pp. 387 et seq. SYLVIA DODDS.
Balleny Island was named after John Balleny, who left the Thames on July 16,
1838, in command of the schooner Eliza Scott (154 tons), and accompanied by the cutter Sabrina (of 54 tons) under H. Free- man. The little expedition was one of several fitted out by the enterprising Enderby Brothers, whose ships had visited the Southern seas since 1785. Charles En- derby became an original fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, and remained actively interested in its work ior forty-seven years. The Enderby Brothers differed from other merchants by the careful choice of their skippers, who were men of education, and often of naval training. See the valuable chapter on " Enderby Brothers ' in Mr. H. R. Mill's " The Siege of the South Pole,' London, 1905.
After spending some time in Chalky Bay> New Zealand, Balleny again sailed on Jan. 7,
1839. On Feb. 1 of the same year the Eliza Scott and Sabrina were stopped in the Antarctic by a large body of ice. The weather was thick and foggy, with light winds. On Feb. 9, 1839, at 8 A.M. the sky cleared, and in the course of that day the Ballem* Islands were discovered. Later the Sabrina got lost in a gale, but by Sept. 17, 1839, the Eliza Scott was safely back in the Thames.
In the ninth volume of the Journal of the
Royal Geographical Society there is an
article upon ' John Balleny's Discoveries
in the Antarctic Ocean in February, 1839.'
In the Bttlletin de la Societe de Geographic
of 1839, pp. 84-8, there are extracts from
the Journal of the Eliza Scott while upor
this expedition ; and in the library of the
Royal Geographical Society is the ' Log Book
of the schooner Eliza Scott from July, 1838,
to September, 1839, during her voyage
from London to New Zealand on discovery
to the southward and to Madagascar, and
return to London, with remarks, kept by
W. Moore, chief mate,' 4to (manuscript).
Mr. Mill's book ' The Siege of the South
Pole,' with a bibliography, is specially
valuable. See also ' Proceedings at a Public
Dinner given to C. Enderby, Esquire, at the
London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, April 18,
1849.' Balleny does not appear to have
been present at the dinner, and may have
died before that date. Charles Enderby,
who was largely if not solely responsible
for John Balleny's expedition, died Aug. 31,
1876, aged 78.
The name Balleny is uncommon. John Ballinie appears in the Registers of Uffculme, Devon, in 1652.
A. L. HUMPHREYS.
187 Piccadilly, W.
[Several other correspondents thanked for replies.]
RIMES ON ST. THOMAS'S DAY (12 S. iii. 9, 96, 173). If my memory does not deceive me, the sayings on this subject, as used in Northern .France, were not very different from those quoted by COL. NICHOLSON, but the units of length were not the same. On St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13) the days were said to lengthen by the hop of a flea : "A la Sainte Luce au saut d'une puce " ; on Christmas Day by the jump of a donkey : " A la Noel, du saut d'un baudet." Steven- son has told how difficult it is to move the latter, and the French proverb means that there is, practically, no difference at all in the length of the days during this part of the winter. We have to wait until Jan. 6, Twelfth Day ("Jour des Rois "), to dis- cover any improvement : " Aux Rois on s'en aper9oit." PIERRE TURPIN.
INSCRIPTIONS IN GROSVENOR CHAPEL, SOUTH AUDLEY STREET (12 S. iii. 183). No. 14, The name stated to be illegible is probably Fust, as Sir Herbert Jenner, Knt., took the name of Fust in 1842. His wife was a Miss Lascelles.
R. J. FYNMORE
