94 Account of the ttew Dhcovery 



brown: at the same time, we ^ot another new peterel, smaller 

 than the former, and all of a dark gray plumage. We reniarked 

 that these liiids were fuller of feathers than any we had hitherto 

 •seen; .such care has nature taken to clothe them suitahly to the 

 climate in which they live. At the same time we saw a few cho- 

 colate-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 liitlierlo we have foiuul these lands, 

 if any, OjUitc inaccessible. Besides these birds, ue saw a very 

 large seal, which kept plaving about us some tiriiC. One of our 

 people who had been at Greeidand, called it a sea-horse; but 

 every one else took it for what I have said." 



Again, in lat. 65° 42', long. 99° 44': '/ I now came to the re- 

 solution to proceed to the north, and to spend the ensuing winter 

 within the tropic, if I met with no employment before I came 

 there. I was now well satisfied no continent was to be found in 

 this ocean, but v»'hat must lie so I'ar to tl:e south as to be wholly 

 inaccessible on account of ice ; and that if one should be found 

 in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, it would be necessary to have 

 the whole summer before us to explore it. On the otlier hand, 

 upon a supposition that there is no land there, we undoubtedly 

 might have reached the Cane of Good Hope by April, and so have 

 put an end to the expedition, so far as it related to the finding 

 acontinent; which indeed was the first object of the voyage. 

 But for me at this time to have quitted thcSouthern PacificOcean, 

 with a good ship expressly sent out on discoveries, a healthy crew, 

 and not in v.'ant either of stores or of provisions, would have been 

 betraving not only a want of perseverance, but of judgement, in 

 supposing the South Pacific Ocean to have been so well explored, 

 that nothing remained to be done in it. This, however, was not 

 my o))inion ; for though 1 had proved that there v%as no continent 

 but what must lie fir to the south, there remained nevertheless 

 room for verv large islands in places wholly unexamined : and 

 many of those which were formerly discovered, are but imper- 

 fectly explored, and their situations as imperfectly known. I 

 was besides of opinion, that my remaining in this sea some time 

 longer, would be productive of improvements in navigation and 

 geographv, as well as in other sciences." 



In the absence of a more detailed narrative of the important 

 discovery (now made of the actual existence of a southern con- 

 tinent) which we presume is retarded for obvious reasons, re- 

 sulting from the impolicy of making premature disclosures, the 

 following icv,- particulars may not only gratify curiosity, but will, 

 in a great measure, we trust, counteract the ill effects of garbled 



and 



