177& ROUND THE WORLD. 199 



southernmost of which is green, low, and flat, and 

 lies one league from the Cape. 



As we advanced to S.W., land opened off this 

 point, in the direction of N. 60° West, and nine 

 leagues beyond it. It proved an island quite detached 

 from the main, and obtained the name of Pickersgill 

 Island, after my third officer. Soon after, a point 

 of the main, beyond this island, came in sight, in the 

 direction of N.55 W.; which exactly united the coast 

 at the very point we had seen, and taken the bear- 

 ing of, the day we first came in with it, and proved 

 to a demonstration that this land, which we had taken 

 for part of a great continent, was no more than an 

 island of seventy leagues in circuit. 



Who would have thought that an island of no 

 greater extent than this, situated between the lati- 

 tude of 54° and 55°, should, in the very height of 

 summer, be in a manner wholly covered many fa- 

 thoms deep with frozen snow, but more especially 

 the S.W. coast? The very sides and craggy summits 

 of the lofty mountains were cased with snow and 

 ice; but the quantity which lay in the valleys is in- 

 credible ; and at the bottom of the bays, the coast 

 was terminated by a wall of ice of considerable 

 height. It can hardly be doubted that a great 

 deal of ice is formed here in the winter, which in the 

 spring is broken off and dispersed over the sea ; but 

 this island cannot produce the ten-thousandth part of 

 what we saw ; so that either there must be more 

 land, or the ice is formed without it. These re- 

 flections led me to think that the land we had seen the 

 preceding day might belong to an extensive track ; 

 and I still had hopes of discovering a continent. 

 I must confess the disappointment I now met 

 with, did not affect me much, for to judge of the 

 bulk by the sample, it would not be worth the 

 discovery. 



I called this land the Isle of Georgia in honour of 

 his Majesty. It is situated between the latitude of 53° 



o 4 



