OF THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE. 313 
A brief sketch of this last cruize will be the more interest- 
ing, because, on this occasion, probably owing to the frequent 
occurrence of islands, and the comparative proximity of the 
South American continent and the Falklands, vegetation, 
such as it is, and requiring almost the eye of a botanist to 
descry its existence, was detected in latitudes far more 
southerly than during either of the two previous voyages. 
The Expedition quitted Berkeley Sound, East Falkland, on 
the morning of the 17th of December, 1842, and making all 
sail, ran to the southward, with fresh breezes, gales, and 
much misty, foggy weather, till the 24th, when the position 
of the ships was a little eastward of Clarence Island, though 
the thick atmosphere prevented the land being made. On 
that day the navigators fell in with the first berg and much 
rotten ice, and saw some birds, the white Chionis of the 
Falklands, which are always a sure sign that land is near. On 
Christmas day, the same cheerless weather prevailed, though 
it must be remembered that the 25th of December is the 
midsummer of the Southern Hemisphere: snow-squalls and 
furious winds from the S.W. assailed them; but the evening 
becoming clearer, many icebergs were discerned, and the first 
White Petrel gave intimation that the Pack-ice was at hand, 
little known points. Approaching the land in a different direction from any 
previous navigator, our French commandant explored it for a hundred and 
twenty miles, between 63 and 64 degrees south and 58-62 degrees west of 
Paris ; and found its coast everywhere crowned with numerous peaks, and 
covered with unmelting ice. To the largest portion of land was assigned 
the name of Louis Philippe ; the smaller ones received various appellations. 
During the progress of this fatiguing service, the season became late, 
and scurvy having seized the crews, it was necessary quickly to quit 
these dreary regions, and regain one of the ports of Chili. When the 
ships reached Conception, forty men on board the Zélée were unfit for 
service ; and though only fifteen were sick in the Astrolabe, yet the dis- 
ease was making progress, and the Commandant himself began to show 
symptoms of it. Careful medical treatment, a salubrious regimen, and 
the air of land, quickly banished this scourge, and brought health back 
to the countenances of the navigators, so that when they cast anchor in 
the Bay of Valparaiso, the number of scorbutic individuals was reduced 
to three.” 
