RADACK ISLANDS. 293 
have been near land, but we looked for it 
in vain; and this discovery remains for some 
future navigator. 
On the 22nd we cut the Equator in the lon- 
gitude 179° 43’, and once more found ourselves 
in our own Northern hemisphere—nearer to our 
native country, though the course by which we 
must reach it would be still longer than that 
we had traversed. Our old acquaintance the 
Great Bear showed himself once more, and we 
looked upon him with joy, as though he had 
brought intelligence from our distant homes. 
We now again employed Parrot’s machine 
to draw up water from a depth of 800 fa- 
thoms. Its temperature was only six degrees 
of Reaumur, while that of the water at the sur- 
face was twenty-three degrees. 
A tolerably strong wind, which blew during 
several successive days, brought us within sight 
of the Radack Islands, on the morning of the 
28th of April. 
To those who are yet unacquainted with 
these islands, and cannot or will not have re- 
course to my former voyage, I must be excused 
giving a few particulars concerning them. 
