HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES 305 
the space of about thirty degrees which it occupied. I 
have, therefore, marked it on the chart only as an ‘ ap- 
pearance of land.’ ” 
The day, it should be added, was beautifully fine, the 
clearest and brightest of the cruise, according to Mc- 
Cormick. Curiously enough Ross appeared to attach no 
significance as signs of the proximity of land to the 
numerous hauls of stones he had made with the dredge 
from the bottom of the sea, or to the several cases of ice- 
bergs with pieces of rock embedded in their substance 
which he recorded from the neighbourhood of his farthest 
south. These were really strong confirmatory evidence. 
On February 24th the main pack was found extending 
right up to the edge of the barrier, and the intensity of 
the cold made it quite plain that there was no more polar 
work to be done that season. The attempt to reach a high 
Southern latitude had been far less interesting in its out- 
come though more dangerous and laborious than that of 
the previous year, the net result being an advance of some 
six miles towards the pole and the doubtful discovery of 
land about the meridian of 160° W. This result, slight 
as it was, was not accomplished without great risk, and 
it was indeed very nearly too late to return. The sea 
as far as the eye could reach from the masthead was a 
continuous sheet of new ice, through which only a strong 
wind could force the ships. Fortunately a strong south- 
easterly breeze was blowing and by crowding all canvas 
even to royals and studding-sails the Erebus and Terror 
tore through the young ice for thirty miles to north- 
westward and regained the open sea. The object now 
was to follow the edge of the pack northward, and take 
the shortest course across the South Pacific Ocean to 
the Falkland Islands, where it was intended to winter. 
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