HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 59 



i st of February a latitude of 6o° 25' S. was attained on 

 meridian 13° E. longitude. Here, quite close to the 

 region where Bellingshausen on observing sea-swallows 

 conjectured that he was in the neighbourhood of land, 

 Biscoe likewise saw various birds, that are said by ex- 

 perienced Antarctic navigators never to venture far out 

 to sea, flying to the south-west. The water also pre- 

 sented a lighter appearance, and it was even supposed 

 that land was visible, but this was by no means certain. 

 Again on the 4th of February land was apparently re- 

 peatedly seen, but as the edge of the pack-ice here 

 changed its direction it became impossible to follow up 

 or investigate this doubtful appearance, and the vessels 

 were obliged to take a somewhat more north-easterly 

 course. The whole course towards the east had to be 

 won by strenuous effort, for the direction of the winds 

 and of the surface currents of the sea was almost entirely 

 east and south-east towards the west or north-west ; and, 

 in addition, the ships were constantly hindered and 

 opposed by the floating masses of ice. On the 19th of 

 February, Biscoe and his ships were in precisely the 

 place where Cook's progress had been stayed by a vast 

 mass or wall of ice, and found themselves in precisely 

 the same situation. 



At length, on the 25 th of February, when the vessels 

 lay in latitude 66° 2' S. and longitude 43 54' E., land 

 was clearly seen, but it was unapproachable on account 

 of the heavy field-ice. Here again was the closed, 

 vertical ice barrier, which Biscoe, for height and ap- 

 pearance, compared to the North Foreland, a steep 

 chalk cliff on the Kentish coast, upwards of a hundred 

 feet high, overlooking the sea between Margate and 

 Ramsgate. On the 27th of February, in latitude 65 

 57' S. and longitude 47 26' E., elevated country of con- 

 siderable extent was seen, but surrounded by an impene- 

 trable belt of ice. Biscoe attempted to break through 



