378 Account of the Discovery of Neiv South Shetland, 
us farther to the north in these oceans than any where else, 
which I judge could not be, if there were not land to the south; 
I mean a land of considerable extent.” About the longitude of 
S7^ W., Cape Montagio, the most northerly, point of Sandwich 
Land, lies in the latitude of 58° 25', and icebergs are found 
hereabout in the latitude of 48°. In the longitude of 57° 30', 
North Foreland, the most northerly point of New Shetland ex- 
ists in the latitude of 62° ; and in the longitude of 67° W. the 
same land appears to fall off to the latitude of 64° S. Fewer 
icebergs are met with still more to the westward ; for noticing 
the Adventure’s track in 1774, it was observed, that in longi- 
tude 106° 54' W. icebergs were not met with till the latitude of 
71° 10' S. In long. W. 142° 54', he was beset with icebergs in 
the latitude of 67° 31' S., and in long. 172° W. he found them 
numerous in the latitude of 62° 10' S. Cook remai'ks, that be- 
tween the meridians of 40° W. and 60° E. ice is invariably en- 
countered in the latitude of 51° S. Modern researches have 
proved that icebergs always derive their origin from adjacent 
land. Between the meridians of 40° and 60° W. icebergs are 
invariably encountered in a somewhat lower latitude, from 
which we may infer, that land exists along one continued tract 
to the southward within these meridians, and it is by no means 
unfair to conclude, that New South Shetland and Sandwich 
Land form two points of one large continent. 
There exists, too, some similarity between the appearance of 
Sandwich Land and South Shetland. Approaching the for- 
mer,” says Dr Forster, “ within half a nlile, the rocks were 
black, cavernous, and perpendicular to a vast height; thick 
clouds veiled the upper parts of the mountains,” &c. Hence, 
proceeding to Southern Thule, the mountains appeared to be of 
vast height, their summits being constantly wrapped in clouds, 
and the lower part covered with snow down to the water’s edge, 
so that it would have been difficult to pronbunce whether we 
saw land or ice, if some hollow rocks had not shewn their black 
and naked caverns in several places.” Precisely similar were the 
appearances of the mountains of the North Foreland in South 
Shetland, where the uninterrupted white surfaces of the higher 
hills were in parts broken by black spots: one very large one on 
the high peak of land marked E in the chart, was probably tlie 
