1 



[ 122 ] 



44 ice, which are feen in the latitude of Cape Horn, prove that 

 " there is land towards the Southern Pole, it being certain that this 

 44 ice cannot be formed in the ocean, though the cold is fo fevereV* 



But it may, perhaps, be faid, that the ice which breaks up in. 

 June, July, and Auguft, or during the correfpondent months in 

 the oppofite hemifphere* may remain floating for years without 

 being much daTolved. 



To this I will not take upon myfelf to fay that fome fuch 

 iflands, when very large, may not continue more than a year £ 

 but I mould conceive this not to be very common* Storms and 

 other accidents muft probably break them into fmall mafles 

 which will quickly be thawed ; as. that able geographer and pro- 

 moter of difcoveries, Mr. Bailiff Engel, obferves that if a piece 

 of ice is faftened by a cord and let down into the fea, it is pre- 

 fently melted k . 



Mr.. Wales alfo informs us, that he fuppofes moll: of thefe 

 iflands of ice are foon wafted, in the following words: 44 The 

 " truth is, their motion and diflblution are apparently fo very 

 44 quick, that I am of opinion it muft be a pretty large ifland 

 44 which is not difiblved in one fummer V" 



How foon like wife does the ice difappear, which is difcharged 

 from our own rivers into the fea, after our moft intenfe frofts? 



I have omitted ftating the degree of cold at which the fea- 

 water I expofed to the air began to be frozen, and cannot now 

 recover the memorandum which I made at the time. I am 

 pretty confident, however, that the mercury had funk only tq f 

 twenty- feven.. 



» Hiftoire de l'Expedition de trois Vaiffeaux, Sec. Hague, 1739, p. 81* 



k See Obfervations Geographiques^ p. 224. 



1 Philofophical Tr.anfa&ions, Vol. LX. p.. 112*. 



4 But 



