viii SUMMARY OF THE VOYAGE. 



W. , but the prevalence for several days of the densest fogs frustrated all attempts to 

 sight the land. This was much regretted, for few* of the plants of that interesting 

 group are known to botanists. After tracing the Macrocystis into the 57th parallel, tbe 

 ships entered an ice-pack of immense magnitude on the 18th of December, in lat. 62° S. 

 Here we were entangled till Feb. 2nd, 1842 (the midsummer of those cheerless re- 

 gions), making no more progress during that time than from the latitude just mentioned 

 to 68°, where we emerged into comparatively open water to the southward of a large 

 body of the pack, which however trended to the westward. At this time the season 

 was far advanced, and as, in the preceding year, the retreat had been commenced, through 

 absolute necessity, on the 9th of February, so Captain Ross did not think proper now 

 to re-enter the pack-ice, but proceeded along its edge to the westward, advancing so far 

 as 187° W., and then to the southward and eastward. On the 20th of February a gale 

 came on, which, though in open water, was sufficiently trying ; the wind was very high, 

 and the spray which beat over the ships became frozen ere it reached the deck, forming 

 every object into a mass of ice ; the coils of rope were covered by an icy incrustation 

 several inches thick, and most of the running-gear about the bowsprits was carried 

 away by the weight of ice formed on it. 



On the 23rd of February the expedition came in view of the grand Victoria Barrier : 

 the day being fine, the voyagers approached within a mile and a half of the Barrier, finally 

 reaching 78° 10' S. lat. in the long. 162° W., having made six miles farther than in the 

 preceding year, the highest latitude hitherto attained. Under all circumstances, this 

 was more than had been expected ; for after the long detention, the rapidly closing sea- 

 son rendered any progress very difficult ; but it was a great object to verify the magnetic 

 and other observations, and to ascertain still more positively the position of the pole. 

 Unable to proceed eastward, the retreat was commenced, tracing the pack edge. Sea- 

 weed was again met with on reaching the parallel of 64°, and occasionally seen when 

 running down the parallel of 60°, from 170° W. to 80° W., and thence in great abun- 

 dance to the Falkland Islands, where the ships anchored in Berkeley Sound on the 6th 

 of April 1842, not having seen land for 138 days, since leaving New Zealand. 



A prolonged stay in the Falklands, though the season was winter (April to the 

 beginning of September), afforded ample opportunities for thoroughly investigating the 



* These few were collected by Dr. Dieffenbach, and are now deposited in the collection of Sir W. J. Hooker. 



