177^. ROUND THE WORLD. 55 



at fourteen or fifteen leagues distance. It is 

 therefore very probable, that what Bouvet took for 

 land, was nothing but mountains of ice, surrounded 

 by loose or field ice. We ourselves were undoubtedly 

 deceived by the ice hills, the day we first fell in with 

 the field ice. Nor was it an improbable conjecture, 

 that that ice joined to land. The probability was how- 

 ever now greatly lessened, if not entirely set aside. 

 For the space between the northern edge of the ice, 

 along which we sailed, and our route to the west, 

 when south of it, nowhere exceeded 100 leagues ; and 

 in some places not 60. But a view of the chart will 

 best explain this. The clear weather continued no 

 longer than three o'clock the next morning, when it 

 was succeeded by a thick fog, sleet, and snow. The 

 wind also veered to N. E. and blew a fresh gale, 

 with which we stood to S. E. It increased in such a 

 manner, that before noon we were brought under 

 close-reefed top-sails. The wind continued to veer 

 to the north, at last fixed at N. W. and was attended 

 with intervals of clear weather. 



Our course was east, f- north, till noon the next 

 day, when we were in the latitude of 59 c 2' south, 

 and nearly under the same meridian as we were 

 when we fell in with the last field of ice, five days 

 before ; so that had it remained in the same situation, 

 we must now have been in the middle of it. Whereas we 

 did not so much as see any. We cannot suppose that 

 so large a float of ice as this was, could be destroyed 

 in so short a time. It therefore must have drifted 

 to the northward, and this makes it probable that 

 there is no land under this meridian, between the 

 latitude of 55 and 59, where we had supposed some 

 to lie, as mentioned above. 



As we were now only sailing over a part of the sea 

 where we had been before, 1 directed the course 

 E. S. E. in order to get more to the south. We had 

 the advantage of a fresh gale, and the disadvantage of 

 a thick fog, much snow and sleet, which, as usual, 



E 4f 



