SOUTHERN CRUISE. 139 
vessels being apparently very steady. In heaving the log, I found 
that the chip, in drawing in the line, was, when on the top of the next 
wave astern, distant by line three hundred and eighty feet, equal to 
one-sixteenth of a mile, and the schooner being on the next wave, 
was twice the distance, or one-eighth of a mile. The time occupied 
for a wave to pass from the schooner to the brig was thirteen seconds, 
taking the mean of many trials, from which none varied more than a 
second and a half. This gave about twenty-six and a half miles in 
an hour for their apparent progressive motion. In order to get their 
height, I took the opportunity when the schooner was in the trough 
of the sea, and my eye on board the Porpoise in the horizon, to 
observe where it cut the mast : the wood-cut will illustrate it. 
This gave me thirty-two feet. The waves ran higher and more 
regular on this occasion than I have seen them at any other time 
during the cruise. 
We had many albatrosses hovering about, and at times resting as 
it were immovable in the storm, some gray petrels, and Cape pigeons 
in numbers. The weather becoming thick, and the temperature of 
the water having fallen to 32°, I deemed it prudent to heave to during 
the darkness. 
The 28th came in more moderate. As soon as it was light we 
ao-ain made sail to the south. Towards noon the wind hauled to the 
northward and brought rain. The temperature of the water was 37°. 
The wind now again hauled to the southward and blew fresh. At 
noon we had reached the latitude of 61° 20' S., longitude 60° 49' W. 
We found ourselves obliged to lay to this night also, it being too dark 
to run. 
At daylight on the 1st of March we had snow in flurries, and the 
first ice islands were made. They excited much curiosity, and 
appeared to have been much worn, as though the sea had been 
washing over them for some time. They were of small size in com- 
parison with those we afterwards saw, but being unused to the sight, 
we thought them magnificent. At noon we made land, which proved 
to be Ridley's Island. It was high, broken, and rugged, with the top 
covered with snow. The rocks had a basaltic appearance, and many 
were detached from the main body of the island, with numerous high 
