27S Examhiarion of St. Pierre's Hjpothejis 



Captain Cook, who fpent three fummers as near as the ice 

 would permit his approach towards the fouth pole, found On 

 December 14, 1772, and from that date to the beginning 

 of January 1773, m latitude from 55 to 64° fouth, avail 

 compact body of ice which prevented his further pro- 

 grefs. The thermomcier varied from 30° to 35 . Being 

 immerfed 100 fathom deep for about 20 minutes, it 

 came up 34 ; and on the 13th of January 1774, on a 

 repetition of this experiment, the open air being 36 , the 

 furface of the fea 33 i°, the thermometer came up 32 . 

 They found water generally freeze at 33 . " We certainly 

 had no thaw, (fays he,) the mercury keeping ufually below 

 the freezing point. Being near an ifland of ice (December 24, 

 1772) 50 feet high and 400 fathom in circuit, I fent the 

 mailer in the jolly boat to fee if any water ran from it. He 

 foon returned with an account there was not one drop, or any 

 other appearances of thaw." And in the fummer of 1774 — 7,5 

 his experience was nearly fimilar. On the 13th of February 

 1775, tne thermometer ftood at 29°. In his 3d voyage to 

 the north-weft coafl of America, on the J 7th of Augult 

 1778, in lat. 70 44', thev were flopped by a field of ice 10 

 or 12 feet high, as compact as a wall; " further north it ap- 

 peared much higher; here and there we fawupon it pools of 

 water; we tried, but found no current. July 7, 1779, lat. 69 ; 

 flopped by a large field of ice, prefenting a great extent of 

 folid and compact furface not in the fmallell degree thawed ; 

 the thermometer flood at 31 ." 



" As far as our experience went, the fea is clearer of ice in 

 Augufl than in July, and perhaps it may be ftill freer in a 

 part of September. We tried the currents, and found them 

 never to exceed a mile an hour; we found the month of July 

 infinitely colder than Augufl; ; the thermometer in July was 

 once 28 , and very commonly 30 ; whereas it wasfeldom as 

 low as the freezing point in Augufl." 



" I am of opinion (fays Captain Cook) that the fun con» 

 tributes very little towards reducing thefe vafl maffes of ice ; 

 for, although that luminary is a confiderable time above the 

 horizon, it feldom fliines out more than a few hours at a time, 

 and often is not (een for feveral days in fucceffion. It is the 

 wind, or rather the waves raifed by the] wind, that reduces 

 3 the 



