AMERICAN SEALERS 107 
to its being snow-covered, nor does the weather seem to 
have been foggy. 
On December 8th the Wasp left, steering southeast, 
and on the 13th she was in 6o° n'S., io° 23' E., and 
thence she made for Kerguelen Land. After seal-hunt- 
ing round the island from December 31st to January 
12th, 1823, the Wasp headed southwest, and on the 22nd, 
was in 62° 27' S. and 94 0 11' E. Here a number of great 
icebergs made it necessary to turn northward, and the 
voyage was continued between 50° and 58° as far east 
as 117 0 E., a point due south of Western Australia. 
Hitherto, the weather had been bad, but on February 
1st it became clear and pleasant, with a northeast wind. 
Now comes the part of the voyage concerning the truth 
of which most doubt has been entertained, and as it is 
unfortunately dismissed in very few words, we quote it 
exactly as it is given in Morrell’s book : 
“ By an observaton at noon we were in lat. 64° 52' S., 
long. 118 0 27' E. The wind soon freshened to an eleven- 
knot breeze, and we embraced this opportunity of making 
to the west; being, however, convinced that the farther 
we went south beyond lat. 64° the less ice was to be ap- 
prehended, we steered a little to the southward until 
zve crossed the antarctic circle and were in lat. 69° n' S., 
long. 48° 13' E. In this latitude there was no field-ice, 
and very few ice-islands in sight. We likewise discov- 
ered that the winds in this latitude blow three-fourths of 
the time from the southeast, or the northeast, very light, 
and attended with more or less snow, every day; and 
that the westerly winds were accompanied with severe 
hail-squalls. 
“ February 23d . — We continued steering to the west- 
ward with every necessary caution until 4 p. m., when 
