HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 101 



large icebergs, probably aground. The thick falling 

 snow prevented their seeing any distance, and the waves 

 moreover, as they broke over the ships, froze as they fell 

 on the decks and rigging, and covered all, even the 

 men's clothing, with a thick coating of ice. When on 

 the 13th of February the weather cleared, and it became 

 evident that every further examination of the pack-ice 

 was fruitless, Ross determined to make one more attempt 

 to reach the magnetic pole, and to seek a harbour in 

 which to pass the winter. Nearly three weeks had 

 elapsed since they had come nearest to the pole at 

 Franklin Island, and it seemed reasonable to hope that 

 the pack-ice to the N. and N.W. of Mount Erebus had 

 in the main drifted off to the north. On the 16th of 

 February the great volcano again came in sight, and 

 the weather growing very clear it was evident that 

 Erebus and Terror were connected with the main land 

 (Victoria Land), and were not on islands, as had at first 

 been conjectured. To the west of Cape Bird, a deep 

 bight extended to the west, the shores of which could 

 be distinctly traced connecting Mount Erebus with the 

 westernmost point of Victoria Land reached by the ships 

 in latitude 76° 12' S. and longitude 164° E. Ross had 

 attempted to penetrate the tough, newly-formed ice 

 coloured by an infinite number of rust-brown diatoms, 

 in an effort to reach the west side of this bight, when 

 he came upon such heavy closely-packed ice as to cause 

 him to desist when within ten or twelve nautical miles of 

 the low coast. This involved their giving up at the same 

 time the anticipated exploration of a low point of land 

 with an islet off it, which seemed likely to afford a 

 suitable harbour for wintering in. There was no pros- 

 pect at that advanced season that any more of the land 

 ice would break away, and consequently no chance of 

 reaching the coast and finding a secure refuge for 

 wintering in. Ross therefore relinquished the attempt 



