THE JOURNAL OF M. J. DUMONT-D’URVILLE. 439 
the swell. This midshipman came to reclaim a dipping-needle which 
had been declared faulty by M. Dumoulin, and was of no use whatever ; 
also to c nsult with the mechanician as to the nature of the observations 
which could be made on the Zélée, and what he considered advantageous 
in these latitudes. Every day MM. Dumoulin and Coupvent took at 
intervals numerous observations of inclination with an excellent instru- 
ment made by M. Gambey. I should add that M. Gaillard, with all 
his efforts, was never able to turn to account the dip-needle which he 
had come to reclaim. It is to be regretted that our two corvettes, on 
leaving France, were not provided with instruments which could have 
been compared with each other, for observations of this kind made at 
sea are too difficult and uncertain for science to profit much by a com- 
parison of them. Observations should be made simultaneously on board 
two ships sailing together. 
I tovuk advantage of this circumstance to question M. Gaillard as to 
the sanitary state of his ship; he tuld me that the Zélée had seven men 
on the sick list: of these, three appeared to be seriously ill. The 
dysentery from which they were suffering seemed to have taken 
a more severe form since they had left Hobart Town. I greatly 
regretted these relapses, but the men had only been taken on board 
the Zélee after consultation with M. Hombron, and when their recovery 
was sufficiently advanced to allow them to go to sea again. 
Jan. 11.—On the 11th we had passed the 51st parallel of south 
latitude; we therefore found ourselves in the position assigned by 
several hydrographers to the Royal-Company Island. Notwithstanding 
careful scrutiny and the most favourable horizon we saw no land. 
It is probable that this island, if it exist, is marked wrongly on the 
maps. Besides, it must often happen in seasons when the glacial 
regions are favoured by a very hot summer, that great breaking up 
of the ice occurs, and then the icebergs have been frequently carried 
as far as the 50th parallel of south latitude and recorded as new 
discoveries. According to the quantity of light which they receive, 
the ice-islands often display strange hues, which give them the appear- 
ance of isolated rocks. 
The albatrosses, which had never left us from Hobart Town onwards, 
disappeared about the 50th degree lat. The wind also began to blow 
strongly; for two days we were obliged to lay-to under the try-sail 
with a very high sea, and our ships laboured heavily. The Astrolabe 
had only two men on the sick list, but the Zélée had still three sick 
men whose condition gave cause for great anxiety. This bad weather 
could not but be harmful to them ; indeed, after one of the worst gales 
we had undergone, a seaman of the first class, uamed Pousson, breathed 
his last. “This man,” said M. Jacquinet, “had only felt slight colic 
a few days before we left Hobart Town. When we quitted that English 
colony he gave no cause for anxiety, and he was not in a condition to 
