320 THE ANTARCTIC MANUAL. 
to the southward through much loose ice. At noon our latitude was 
66° 29' §., longitude 45° 17’ E.; that which lately had the appearance of 
land now bore from E.S.E. to W.S.W. (true bearing), with a large range 
of field-ice stretching to the N.E. Innumerable icebergs, and the vessels 
so encompassed with straggling pieces we could proceed no further with 
safety owing to a strong N.E. swell, which set towards the main body of 
ice, which it now proved to be; the appearance of it was, I think, nearly 
similar to the North Foreland, and I should think the cliffs of it, which 
bore the marks of icebergs having been broken from off it, and which 
was exactly similar to their sides in every respect, was as high, or nearly 
so, as the North Foreland; it then ran away to the southward with a 
gradual ascent, with a perfectly smooth surface, and I could trace it in 
extent to at least from 30 to 40 miles from the foretop with a good 
telescope; it was then lost in the general glow of the atmosphere. As I 
observed some two or three lumps which had the appearance of land from 
the irregularity of their surface, I lowered a boat, and went myself to 
ascertain whether or not there was any appearance of land on a nearer 
view, judging myself to be about 3 miles at this time from the main 
body ; but after pulling about half an hour or more, I found we were 
rather more than half a mile from it still, with the ice so thick we could 
at times scarcely get the boat through it, and as both vessels were hnll 
down, and entirely at times hid from us by the ice, the weather also 
having a black appearance from the northward with a heavy N.E. swell, 
I deemed it most prudent to return after having fully convinced myself 
this was nothing more than a solid body of ice. I saw nothing near it 
except a few penguins, and shortly after getting on board observed a 
young elephant on a point of field-ice we were then passing, and which 
I went in ihe boat and shot. It proved to be of the same species we 
had seen from the vessels at different times, and which we supposed to 
be hair seal, aud gave about 43 gallons of oil. 
I have long been anxious to ascertain as nearly as possible the origin 
of icebergs. It is the given opinion of most navigators that they are 
formed contiguous to land, and Captain Weddell mentions one in his 
southern voyage, which had so much black earth about it that he could 
scarcely satisfy himself it was notarock. But of all the icebergs I have 
seen, which are many hundreds, I could never discern the least trace of 
their having ever been connected with land, and had formed the opinion 
in my mind that they originated from a vast body of ice, frozen on the 
surface of the water, and accumulating with time, and I should have 
regretted much had I been obliged to leave these southern parallels, from 
the advanced state of the season, without satisfying myself in this 
particular, and having seen nothing but the field-ice. However, this 
morning has completely satisfied me in this respect, for J have not the 
least doubt that the whole spaces, from the latitudes I have visited to the 
Pole, are one solid mass; land may intervene, or winds, where they are 
