HISTOR Y OF DISCO VER Y. Ill 



eastern continuation of Louis-Philippe Land, where the 

 open water between the coast and the pack-ice might 

 enable him to penetrate still further to the south or 

 south-east. If this proved impracticable he determined 

 to reach the south by following Weddell's track further 

 east. Steering towards Clarence Island, which could 

 not be seen owing to the thick weather, the first iceberg- 

 came in sight in latitude 6i° S. and longitude 52° io' 

 W. On the following day the ships were surrounded 

 by numerous icebergs, and the same afternoon they 

 came upon the edge of the pack-ice in latitude 62° 30' 

 S. and longitude 52° W. The pack appeared tolerably 

 open, but, as before stated, Ross was desirous of reach- 

 ing the open water on the coast without delay, and he 

 felt obliged to avoid the danger of getting the vessels 

 beset in the pack-ice by steering along its edge to the 

 west. On this course the icebergs everywhere were for 

 the first time seen thawing and in a state of rapid dis- 

 solution, a process that had not been observed on the 

 two previous voyages. On the 28th of December the 

 east coast of Joinville Land, not previously seen, came 

 in sight. An outlying small but lofty islet was named 

 Etna Islet from its striking resemblance to the Sicilian 

 volcano. The land was mostly covered with ice and 

 snow, and in one place a huge glacier, several nautical 

 miles in breadth, descended to the sea from a height 

 of 1,200 feet, ending: m a vertical cliff 100 feet in height. 

 Further south a number of low, rocky islets were en- 

 countered off the coast, the Danger Islets, of which the 

 southernmost, discovered on the 29th of December, and 

 about 600 feet high, received the name of Darwin Islet. 



Ross was desirous of avoiding; these dangerous islets 

 and cliffs, as well as a vast number of stranded icebergs 

 in their immediate vicinity, but the heavy pack-ice very 

 soon compelled him to seek the coast. On the next day 

 it was seen that the southern extreme of Joinville Island 



