164 Bibliography. 
found the impracticable barrier a few miles further south than the Vincennes did 
six or seven days after; but this fact is not to be received as warranting any gen- 
eral conclusion, on account of the occurrence of southeast gales during the inter- 
mediate time. The trials for currents have, for the most part, shown none to 
exist. The Porpoise, it is true, experienced some, but these were generally after 
a gale. If currents do exist, their tendency is westward, which I think the drift: 
of the ice would clearly prove. The difference between the astronomic positions 
and those given by dead-reckoning, was of no avail here as a test,* for the course 
of the vessels among the ice was so tortuous, that the latter could not be de-’ 
pended upon. 
“The winds which prevail from the southwest to the southeast occasionally 
bring clear weather, interrupted by flurries of snow; the north wind is light, and 
brings thick fogs, attended by a rise of temperature. Extremes of weather are 
experienced in rapid succession, and it is truly a fickle climate. ‘ 
‘‘ The evidence that an extensive continent lies within the icy barrier, must 
have appeared in the account of my proceedings, but will be, I think, more 
forcibly exhibited by a comparison with the aspect of other lands in the same 
southern parallel. Palmer’s Land, for instance, which is in like manner invested 
with ice, is so at certain seasons of the year only, while at others it is quite clear, 
because strong currents prevail there, which sweep the ice off to the northeast. 
Along the Antarctic Continent for the whole distance explored, which is upwards 
of fifteen hundred miles, no open strait is found. The coast, where the ice per- 
mitted approach, was found enveloped with a perpendicular barrier, in some cases 
unbroken for fifty miles. If there was only a chain of islands, the outline of the 
ice would undoubtedly be of another form; and it is scarcely to be conceived that 
so Jong a chain could extend so nearly in the same parallel of latitude. The land 
has none of the abruptness of termination that the islands of high southern lati- 
tudes exhibit; and f am satisfied that it exists in one uninterrupted line of coast, 
from Ringgold’s Knoll, in the east, to Enderby’s Land, in the west; that the coast 
(at longitude 95° E.) trends to the north, and this will account for the icy barrier 
existing, with little alteration, where it was seen by Cook in 1773. The vast 
number of ice-islands conclusively points out that there is some extensive nucleus 
which retains them in their position; for I can see no reason why the ice should 
not be disengaged from islands, if they were such, as happens in all other cases’ 
in like latitudes. The formation of the coast is different from what would proba- 
bly be found near islands, soundings being obtained in comparatively shoal water; 
and the color of the water also indicates that it is not like other southern lands, 
abrupt and precipitous. This cause is sufficient to retain the huge masses of ice, 
by their being attached by their lower surfaces instead of their sides only. 
‘*« Much inquiry and a strong desire has been evinced by geologists, to ascertain 
the extent to which these ice-islands travel, the boulders and masses of earth they 
transport, and the direction they take. 
‘‘ From my own observations, and the information I have collected, there ap- 
pears a great difference in the movements of these vast masses ; in some years, 
great numbers of them have floated north from the Antarctic Circle, and even at 
times obstructed the navigation about the capes. The year 1832 was remarkable 
in this respect; many vessels bound round Cape Horn from the Pacific, were 
obliged to put back to Chili, in consequence of the dangers arising from ice ; 
while, during the preceding and following years, little or none was seen: this 
* The fact of there being no northerly current along this extended line of coast, is a strong 
proof in my mind of its being a continent, instead of a range of islands. 
