THROUGH THE SOUTH SEAS 143 



He allowed himself to dream. He thought how- 

 good it would be to be back in the little house in 

 Mile End Road, among the smiles of his sons 

 and the caresses of his wife. But he put aside 

 his emotion, a weakness unworthy of a sailor, 

 and continued to steer his ship towards the conti- 

 nent which his superiors had bade him discover. 



He met with the first iceberg on December 

 1 2th, and soon navigation became more and 

 more difficult and dangerous. Snow and hail 

 fell alternately. Oedidea, who had never seen 

 such a spectacle, called the hail "white stones" 

 and the snow "white rain." 



On December 22nd the Resolution reached 

 the highest south latitude which she had yet 

 attained. The icebergs became more frequent. 

 Cook counted more than a hundred round the 

 ship, and, judging further progress too danger- 

 ous, he felt compelled to return northwards. 

 The rigging and ropes were covered with ice, 

 which made it difficult to work the ship. 



Christmas was celebrated, in spite of every- 

 thing, with the same merry rites as in the previ- 

 ous year, which aroused George Forster's wrath 

 and filled him with bitter comments. "The 

 sailors," he wrote, "took great pains to get 

 drunk. The sight of innumerable islands of ice, 

 in the midst of which we drove at the mercy of 

 the currents, perpetually in danger of shipwreck 



