312 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
The weather being now so very clear, I am convinced land might have 
been seen at 80 or 90 miles distance, although during the evening 
several appearances of land had Leen observed. What astonished me 
most was that there were no living animals of any kind about this ice 
with the exception of one or two small petrels—no penguins, which at 
other times had been always very numerous, which almost convinced me 
that this ice must be formed at sea from the very heavy falls of snow 
which here are almost continual. The temperature of the water at this 
time being below freezing 2°, and the whole of the ice above water 
having the appearance of snow, makes it, I think, probable. Tempera- 
ture, air 31°. The head of the bay was so small, that in veering to 
return we ran round nearly the whole of it, but could observe no 
opening whatever. I now found almost as much difficulty in returning 
as before in entering, for although the wind was fair, still the whole 
space appeared one complete mass of unbroken ice; but at 5 am. 
succeeded in getting into tolerably clear water, and steered a course to 
pass to the eastward of the patch we had left yesterday at noon. At 8, 
hauled up east, but again made compact ice, and after steering various 
courses along it, found that at noon we had made a N.E. course of about 
12 miles from yesterday; our latitude at noon being 59° 27’ 8., we 
continued working along the edge of the ice until 1 a.m. of the 9th. At 
noon our latitude was 58° 31'S., and longitude, by means of all chronv- 
meters, 17° 06' 00" W. During the morning of the 10th we again had 
to make various courses to clear the ice, and at nvon had made from 
yesterday a northerly course of 58°. It came on to blow strong from 
the southward, and at 4 p.m. blew a heavy gale, which lasted until 8 a.m. 
of the 11th. During the gale I steered an easterly course, but was 
much surprised to find a very heavy sea running, although we could not 
be more than 35 miles to the northward of the ice. Passed three ice- 
islands in the night. At noon, hauled up 8.E., the weather being more 
moderate, and wind about W.S.W., but at about noon of the 12th found 
we had made little better than an E.S.E. course, which at the time 
I attributed to a strong northerly current, but since find it must be 
owing to the sudden increase of westerly variation. 
Jan. 18.—On the 13th and 14th the wind was very light and vari- 
able, but generally more from the southward than any other point, with 
intervals of calm, and so very thick that on the night of the 13th we 
could not see the cutter twice our length, although hailing and speaking 
to her at different times, and at last made a line fast to her to prevent 
our separation. At noon on 14th, on clearing up, found ourselves close 
to some heavy patches of ice with 32 icebergs about us. Latitude 
58° 57'8., longitude, chronometers, 9° 47’ 20" W. 
Jan. 15.—a.M. Passed through a slack place on the ice and stood 
to the southward, endeavouring to pass through, but after running some 
miles into it found it nothing but a bay, and were obliged to haul 
