JAMES COOK 75 
mg twelve and a half degrees of easting south of the 
circle. The ship reached 47 0 50' S. in 123 0 W., 
a useful detour, since it showed that no continuous land 
stretched between New Zealand and Cape Horn, but 
affording little rest to the jaded crew, who on Jan- 
uary 18th were once more on the poleward side of 6o°, 
bound south. On January 20th icebergs appeared, one of 
them towering to a height of 200 feet, with a dome-shaped 
peak, but as the ship got farther south the number of 
bergs diminished and the air grew warmer. 
When the Resolution crossed the circle for the third 
time in 109° 31' W. on January 26th, 1774, no ice was in 
sight; but floes appeared next day and a thick fog came 
on, greatly hampering navigation. Every one on board 
was suffering more or less from the salt food and the mis- 
erable weather. George Forster we are sure did not ex- 
aggerate when he said, “ A gloomy, melancholy air loured 
on the brows of our shipmates, and a dreadful silence 
reigned amongst us. . . . The hour of dinner was hate- 
ful to us.” The captain alone, he said, seemed to grow 
better as they advanced toward the pole. On January 
30th, 1774, the weather was clear and the ship was 
blocked in 71 0 10' S. and 106° 54' W. It was the farthest 
south of the cruise and of the century. The situation is 
thus described by Captain Cook himself : 
“ On the 30th, at four o’clock in the morning, we per- 
ceived the clouds, over the horizon to the south, to be 
of an unusual snow-white brightness, which we knew 
announced our approach to field ice. Soon after it was 
seen from the topmasthead, and at eight o’clock we were 
close to its edge. It extended east and west far beyond 
the reach of our sight. In the situation we were in, just 
the southern half of our horizon was illuminated by the 
