THE JOURNAL OF M. J. DUMONT-D’URVILLE. 475 
of Adélie Land, but in the evening an east wind blew again. Snow 
began to fall abundantly. The sea was beaten up, and became rough.* 
Jan. 29.—The next day, the wind being apparently steady in the 
east, I thought I ought to give up all attempts to penetrate further in 
this direction, and I then began to consider how to direct my course in 
the best possible way towards the discovery of the magnetic pole. After 
consulting M. Dumoulin, the order was given to sail south-west, in 
order that we might cross all the magnetic meridians whose curves 
seem to approach most nearly those of the terrestrial meridians. At 
midday we were about 64° 48’ S. latitude: only two or three ice-islands 
were in sight. The sea was still running very high, but the weather 
was fine though foggy, and our corvettes under full sail, having the wind 
astern, moved rapidly. At 4 o’clock the man on watch signalled an ice- 
berg (glace) of immense extent in front of us and not far off. Indeed, 
we soon saw through the fog a long line of ice, stretching from south- 
east to north-west, and apparently continuous. Accordingly I gave the 
order to bring her closer to the wind. This had hardly been done, and 
the officer of the watch was about to give the order to board the main tack, 
which had meantime been clewed up for the moment, when the man 
on the watch signalled a ship running towards us before the wind. 
Immediately everyone was on the poop. We were all in fact very 
glad to assure ourselves of the truth of news s0 unexpected in such 
latitudes. The ship was moving quickly, and it was already very near 
us when the man on watch had announced it. Till that moment it 
had been hidden by the fog. The same moment as we distinguished 
her form, we could recognise the flag she had at once run up on seeing 
us. It was an American brig, and the national pennant which floated 
at her mainmast showed that she was a man-o-war. As I have already 
said, we knew when we left Hobart Town that the American expedition, 
which was composed of several ships under command of Captain Wilkes,{ 
and destined for a voyage of circumnavigation, was at Sydney in December 
making preparations for a new polar expedition. Therefore, we were 
certain that the brig we saw belonged to this expedition ; and she, on 
seeing our corvettes, had perhaps hoped we were part of the American 
expedition. However that may be, although we had hoisted our colours 
the ship continued to come towards us, and I hoped that she intended 
to speak us. In order to help her, I gave the order to wait a few 
moments before boarding the tack. 
* This continual east wind in high latitudes is very remarkable. It is well known 
that, between the 30th and 68th parallels, the prevailing wind is almost constantly from 
the west. It is not impossible that beyond this limit the east wind becomes more 
frequent than the west. We do not yet know anything of the meteorological obser- 
vations made in the same latitudes by Captains Wilkes aud James Ross; but the routes 
followed by these navigators in their exploration of the polar regions seem os if they 
should lead to the same conclusions.— V.D. 
_ ¢ Compare Wilkes’ account of this meeting, page 415.—Ep. 
