40 



THE OCEAN. 



like that of the North Pole, but six months later, in consequence 

 of the opposition of seasons in the two hemispheres, caused by 

 the obliquity of the earth's axis. The scattered pieces of ice met 

 with during winter are only fragments detached from the ice-fields. 



Fig. 16. Rou e of the Peacock ; Commander Wilkes, U. S, Navy, in the Antarctic Ice-pack. 



Vessels traversing the Antarctic Ocean meet with thirty or forty 

 times more ice in December, the height of summer, than in July, which 

 is the coldest time. The multitude of floating masses varies much 

 in these seas. To the south of Australia and New Zealand icebergs 

 and ice-fields are comparatively rare. To the south of Cape Horn 

 they are met with more frequently, but are never seen between this 

 southernmost point of America and the Falkland Islands ; for 

 owing to the great Polar current they all drift towards the north- 

 east. It is to the south of the African continent that the ice is 



