238 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
much discoloured. Greatly to the regret of Wilkes 
the deep-sea sounding line was in such a bad state that it 
could only be used to the depth of 150 fathoms, and so 
failed to reach the bottom. The position of the ship on 
this day was 66° 12' S. and 137 0 2' E. 
The number on the sick list increased to twenty, and 
the nights were growing longer, thus increasing the 
strain and anxiety on the navigating officers. A snow 
storm and gale came on next day and the sick list rose 
to thirty. The weather remained wretched until the 7th, 
and the ship was slowly worked to the westward, some- 
times running far to the north to round projections of 
the barrier or to escape from the proximity of dangerous 
icebergs. The 7th proved finer and the ship cruised all 
day along a perpendicular wall of ice about 150 feet in 
height, stretching without a break to 131 0 40' E. and 64° 
49' S., where it trended to the south. Behind it the out- 
line of high land could be distinctly seen, the Cote Clarie 
of D Urville. The ship lay-to till daylight at the bend 
in the coast to which Wilkes gave the name of Cape 
Carr, after the first lieutenant of the Vincennes, but it is 
not stated whether the cape was the icy angle of the bar- 
rier or the assumed promontory within it, and it has 
even been suggested by an American author that the 
name applied to the “ snowy heights of the mainland,” 
but Wilkes was certainly too good a sailor to give the 
name of cape to any feature not touched by the sea. 
Next day it was possible to get only a little farther south 
but land was visible in the evening at a great distance 
and the westerly course was continued. 
The next two days were the finest experienced on that 
coast, and fine views of the barrier were obtained, though 
the appearances of land were neither so numerous nor so 
