TO ROUND CAPE HORN. 



17 



In a tempestuous and frigid latitude, the absence of 

 day-light always augments, in a very serious de- 

 gree, the difficulties of navigation ; but when the 

 formidable danger of icebergs is added, there can 

 be little farther question, I think, as to which season 

 is preferable. All accounts seem to agree that it is 

 during the winter and spring months, July, August, 

 and September, that the ice is most generally met 

 with ; and as the masses in which it floats about are 

 sometimes only a few feet above the water, and such 

 as cannot possibly be distinguished at night, the risk 

 which ships run in winter months is very great. 

 Sometimes it is met with in fields, which embarrass 

 ships exceedingly ; and since the opening of the 

 commerce with the shores of the Pacific has multi- 

 plied the number of vessels navigating those seas, 

 many accidents occur every season. It will be 

 seen under the head of Notice XV., that we met 

 the ice both in large and small islands in August 

 1822 ; and several ships returned to Rio about the 

 same time, after running against the ice, dismasting 

 themselves, and sustaining other damage. 



VOL. II. 



b 



