60 COOK S SECOND VOYAGE JAN, 



thing, the people were enabled to wash and dry 

 their clothes and linen ; a care that can never be 

 enough attended to in all long voyages. The winds 

 during this time blew in gentle gales, and the 

 weather was mild. Yet the mercury in the thermo- 

 meter never rose above 36, and was frequently as 

 low as the freezing point. 



In the afternoon, having but little wind, I brought 

 to under an island of ice, and sent a boat to take 

 up some. In the evening the wind freshened at east, 

 and was attended with snow showers and thick hazy 

 weather, which continued great part of the 16th. 

 As we met with little ice, I stood to the south, 

 close hauled ; and at six o'clock in the evening, being 

 in the latitude of 64 56' south, longitude 39 35' 

 east, I found the variation by Gregory's compass to 

 be 26 41' west. At this time, the motion of the ship 

 was so great, that I could by no means observe with 

 any of Dr. Knight's compasses. 



As the wind remained invariably fixed at east, and 

 E. by S. I continued to stand to the south ; and on the 

 17th, between eleven and twelve o'clock, we crossed 

 the Antarctic circle in the longitude of 39 35' east ; 

 for at noon we were by observation in the latitude of 

 66 36' 30" south. The weather was now become 

 tolerably clear, so that we could see several leagues 

 round us ; and yet we had only seen one island of 

 ice since the morning. But about four P. M. as we 

 were steering to the south, we observed the whole 

 sea in a manner covered with ice, from the direction 

 of S. E. round by the south to west. 



In this space, thirty-eight ice islands, great and 

 small, were seen, besides loose ice in abundance, so 

 that we were obliged to luff for one piece, and bear 

 up for another, and as we continued to advance to 

 the south, it increased in such a manner, that at 

 J past six o'clock, being then in the latitude of 67 15" 

 south, we could proceed no farther ; the ice being 

 entirely closed to the south, in the whole extent 



