1773- ROUND THE WORLD. 75 



them ; the whole exhibiting a view which at once 

 filled the mind with admiration and horror, and can 

 only be described by the hand of an able painter. 

 Towards the evening, the gale abated ; and in the 

 night we had two or three hours calm. This was 

 succeeded by a light breeze at west ; with which 

 we steered east, under all the sail we could set, 

 meeting with many ice-islands. 



This night we saw a Port Egmont hen ; and next 

 morning, being the 25th, another. We had lately 

 seen but few birds ; and those were albatrosses, 

 sheer-waters, and blue peterels. It is remarkable, 

 that we did not see one of either the white, or 

 Antarctic peterels, since we came last amongst the 

 ice. Notwithstanding the wind kept at W. and 

 N.W. all day, we had a very high sea from the east; 

 by which we concluded that no land could be near 

 in that direction. In the evening, being in the lati- 

 tude 60 51', longitude 95 41' east, the variation was 

 43 6' west ; and the next morning, being the 26th, 

 having advanced about a degree and a half more to 

 the east, it was 41 30' ; both being determined by 

 several azimuths. 



We had fair weather all the afternoon ; but the 

 wind was unsettled, veering round by the north 

 to the east. With this, we stood to the S. E. and E. 

 till three o'clock in the afternoon ; when, being in 

 the latitude of 61 21' south, longitude 97 7', we 

 tacked, and stood to the northward and eastward, 

 as the wind kept veering to the south. This, in the 

 evening, increased to a strong gale, blew in squalls, 

 attended with snow and sleet, and thick hazy wea- 

 ther, which soon brought us under our close-reefed 

 top-sails. 



Between eight in the morning of the 26th and 

 noon the next day, we fell in among several islands 

 of ice ; from whence such vast quantities had bro- 

 ken, as to cover the sea all round us, and render 

 sailing rather dangerous. However, by noon, we 



