90 THE ANTARCTIC. 



Nevertheless the rubble on the numerous icebergs still 

 indicated that land could not be very far distant. The 

 sea was remarkably smooth, and above all showed no 

 signs of surf or breakers, so that Wilkes conjectured 

 that a large mass of field-ice lay to the north of his 

 course : indeed he hoped to be successful in reaching 

 Enderby Land along the coast. In this he was, however, 

 disappointed on the following day, when, surrounded 

 by icebergs laden with ddbris he was compelled by the 

 pack-ice to steer north. All these experiences were 

 repeated on the 17th of February, when he apparently 

 saw land from latitude 64° \' S. and longitude 97° 37' 

 E., but this he terms "appearance of land" and not land 

 positively seen. It lay towards the south-west, and 

 seemed to extend towards the north. In spite of its 

 doubtful appearance Wilkes named it Termination Land, 

 and we shall return to the subject later on in discussing 

 the advance of the Challenger. Wilkes continued his 

 search for land in these regions for several days, in the 

 midst of grave difficulty occasioned by the pack-ice ; but 

 on the 20th of February, when in latitude 62° S. and 

 longitude 102° E., he gave up the useless quest and 

 steered back to the north, unhindered by the pack-ice 

 which here took a westerly direction. He returned to 

 Sydney Harbour on the nth of March. 



We now return to the Porpoise, which we left at the 

 point where the meeting with Dumont d'Urville's vessels 

 took place on the 30th of January. Two days later she 

 also came upon the vertical wall of ice, which her com- 

 mander, Ringgold, describes in the identical terms used 

 by Wilkes and D'Urville. On the 2nd of February 

 Ringgold was able to enter the bay on the west side of 

 Cote Clarie and to press forward as far as latitude 

 65° 24' S. and longitude 130° 36' E., without, however, 

 coming upon land even there. A violent storm arising 

 compelled him to turn north in order to avoid the region 



