78 THE ANTARCTIC. 



their discovery, the land received the name of Terre 

 Adelie, in honour of the reigning queen, consort of Louis. 

 Philippe. 



On the following day D'Urville continued the course 

 hitherto pursued westward along the coast, the frozen 

 covering" of which was broken by numerous ravines, and 

 called the bay, from which this peculiar characteristic 

 of the inland ice had been observed, Baie des Ravines. 

 The icebergs in this region frequently showed signs of 

 peculiar colouring, blackish and dark red, obviously in- 

 dicating earthy matter present in the ice. D'Urville 

 attempted to secure drifting pieces of this ice, but with- 

 out success, for a strong current along the coast bore the 

 ships rapidly along to the west, and rendered it impos- 

 sible to lower the boats. The progress of this course 

 was suddenly and unexpectedly arrested by pack-ice, the 

 first seen in these waters, which moved in a northerly 

 and then easterly direction ; and, therefore, made further 

 coasting to the west quite impossible. D'Urville there- 

 fore found himself compelled to tack to the east in the 

 teeth of a rising and violent wind, in order to extricate 

 himself from the bay formed round him by the pack-ice. 

 One advantage the storm from the east certainly secured, 

 and this was the loosening of the pack-ice. Thus the 

 ships were enabled, though at a considerable distance 

 from shore, to continue their westerly course after 

 escaping from the pack-ice, and retreating to latitude 

 64° 48' S. Near this place the French vessels, to their 

 unbounded astonishment, saw a ship looming through 

 the mist, which turned out to be a brig Hying the Ameri- 

 can flag, and steering upon them at full speed. D'Urville 

 commanded more sail to be set on the Astrolabe, a very 

 slow sailer, to enable her to join the American and 

 exchange news. But apparently this manoeuvre was 

 misunderstood by the American, for she quickly turned 

 south and was soon out of sight. It was one of the ships. 



