1773- ROUND THE WORLD. 26 1 



ceeded to the east, in this latitude, must have been 

 wrong, not only on account of the ice, but because 

 we must have left a vast space of sea to the north 

 unexplored ; a space of 24* of latitude, in which a 

 large track of land might have lain. Whether such 

 a supposition was well-grounded, could only be de- 

 termined by visiting those parts. 



While we were taking up ice, we got two of the 

 antarctic peterels so often mentioned, by which our 

 conjectures were confirmed of their being of the 

 peterel tribe. They are about the size of a large 

 pigeon ; the feathers of the head, back, and part of 

 the upper side of the wings, are of a light-brown ; 

 the belly and under side of the wings, white ; the 

 tail-feathers are also white, but tipped with brown : 

 at the same time, we got another new peterel, smaller 

 than the former, and all of a dark-grey plumagei 

 We remarked that these birds were fuller of feathers 

 than any we had hitherto seen ; such care has nature 

 taken to clothe them suitably to the climate in which 

 they live. At the same time we saw a few chocolate-^ 

 coloured albatrosses ; these, as well as the peterels 

 above mentioned, we no where saw but among 

 the ice ; hence one may, with reason, conjecture 

 that there is land to the south. If not, I must ask 

 where these birds breed ? A question which perhaps 

 will never be determined ; for hitherto we have found 

 these lands, if any, quite inaccessible. Besides these 

 birds, we saw a very large seal, which kept playing 

 about us some time. One of our people who had 

 been at Greenland called it a sea-horse ; but every 

 one else who saw it took it for what I have said. 

 Since our first falling in with the ice, the mercury 

 in the thermometer had been from 33 to 31 at noon- 

 day. 



On the 24th, the wind abated, veering to the 

 north-west, and the sky cleared up, in the latitude 

 of 67 (y, longitude 138 15'. As we advanced to 

 the north-east, with a gentle gale at north-west, the 



s 3 



