140 SOUTH AGAIN : NEW ZEALAND AND THE CAPE 
gamic plants, but no Phenogamic, all very scarce indeed but 
one or two Lichens.' Among his linds he mentions : 
Ulva crispa ! also I see found in Ross Islet, according to 
j^our hst of Parry's plants, [and here are pencilled in the 
words] apparently exactly that of Europe, &c., so that unless 
the Red Snow of Forster should prove the real plant of 
Antarctic regions, this is the only plant common to both 
extremities of this globe, and it would be interesting to 
ascertain which intermediate positions it inhabited. It is 
probably found in Europe generally. 
This voyage was like to have had an untoward interruption, 
if not termination, for the ships were nearly frozen in betw^een 
the islands, and only escaped after six days' struggle with the 
ice. Another fortnight w^as spent in trying to pierce the main 
pack, when again they were nearly frozen in ; but once clear 
of the pack, on February 4, they made for Weddell's track 
in long. 40° W., where earlier in the century he had found clear 
water as far as 74° S. But now this line was blocked by 
a dense pack, while the weather w^as unpropitious. Crossing 
the Antarctic Circle on March 1, next day they saw the sun 
unclouded, the first time for six wTeks, and on the 5th turned 
back at 71 1° S., long. 14° 15' W., only to be overtaken by a 
fierce gale lasting three days, during which they were repeatedly 
in danger of shipwreck in the ice or of collision. On the 
11th they recrossed the Antarctic Circle, as all devoutly hoped 
for the last time, and bore up for the Cape, w^hich was reached 
on April 4, 1843. 
Officers and men alike were growing w^eary of the prolonged 
voyage, and the threatened addition of a fifth year w^as as 
unwelcome as it was unusual. The fatigues and monotony 
of the South outweighed the solid allurements of double pay. 
Eoss, with his keen interest in the magnetic work and his 
ambitions as an explorer, and Hooker, with new fields of science 
opening before him and his heart in his work, were, as the 
latter confesses, the only two w^ho could have both pleasure 
and gain in a fifth year or even longer voyage. * It is nothing 
to me if they keep us out six, except the want of seeing my 
