2 4 o SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
ing this ice a vast supply of the purest fresh water was 
found, from which the ship replenished her tanks. As 
this berg was nearly in the position of the last rendezvous 
appointed for the squadron a flagstaff was erected on it, 
and orders left for the other ships to continue to the west- 
ward until the 1st of March. 
On February 15th, the sea became so calm that Wilkes 
suspected that there might be a quantity of ice to the 
northward between him and the open ocean, especially as 
he was 200 miles south of the latitude in which Cook 
had found the barrier in 1773, but he kept on in the hope 
of reaching Enderby Land. Animal life was now ex- 
uberant, whales abounded, including “ right whales ” it 
is stated, and there were seals and penguins in abun- 
dance though no mention is made of these being used for 
food. Enormous numbers of shrimps were seen swim- 
ming around the icebergs. Many earth-stained icebergs 
came in sight and some of them were visited. The 
meridian of ioo° E. had been passed, and the wind for 
several days showed a distinct diurnal periodicity, blow- 
ing fresh from 7 a. m. to 8 p. m., and dying away at 
night. 
On the 1 6th about 10 a. m., the barrier was seen trend- 
ing to the northward, and next day it was found that there 
was no possibility of getting farther to the west. The 
position then was 64° 1' S. and 97 0 37' E., and an ap- 
pearance of land was seen to the southwest, apparently 
trending to the northward. This was charted as Ter- 
mination Land and gave rise to much controversy: it has 
been proved not to exist in the assigned position, though 
Drygalski found land which might have been sighted in 
the same direction from Wilkes's farthest point to the 
westward. As the wind still held from the east it was 
