76 



THE ANTARCTIC. 



regular tabular form, which entirely corresponded to the 

 bergs of Louis-Philippe Land, D'Urville correctly con- 

 cluded that he was no longer far distant from land. The 

 following day the number of icebergs visibly increased ; 

 at the same time the distant coast of unknown land 

 could be distinctly seen. The day had been clear, and 

 the additional heat affected the icebergs surrounding 

 the vessels in all directions, streams of water runnine 

 down everywhere from the thawing ice. The wind had 

 at the same time completely gone down, and this 



Icebergs to the north of Adelie Land, 18th January, 1840 (after Dumont d'Urville). 



rendered a nearer approach to the land impossible. 

 Many of the officers, indeed, still doubted whether it 

 was land they saw ; while on their convoy, the Zdtie, 

 they had been sure of it the day before. 



It was not till the afternoon of the 21st of January that 

 they were able to get nearer to the land ; the coast itself 

 was still covered with countless icebergs, which had 

 obviously detached themselves only a short while before. 

 The further the ships pressed forward the more the number 



