*9 
north-eastern part of Asia, &c. 
diately comprehended. The month of August was at this 
time far advanced ; and to make the most of the short re- 
mainder of the season, Captain Cook stood on westward for 
the coast of Asia, keeping in as high a latitude as the ice 
would permit. On the north side of his track were extensive 
bodies of ice, such as we call field ice. These generally are 
accumulations of loose floating pieces, w r hich have been 
brought together by the wind blowing a length of time in 
one direction towards a coast. When the ice is so driven to 
land, it is evident that the inner pieces only take the ground ; 
the rest are confined by the wind, and when a change in the 
wind afterwards sets the ice from the land, it will preserve a 
position parallel to that which the coast gave it, until the 
strength and variety of winds have time to disperse it. 
The deepest soundings we had in all this sea did not ex- 
ceed thirty fathoms ; and this depth was found in latitude 
68° 45', midway between the coast of Asia and the coast of 
America. Northward, beyond that latitude, the soundings 
were observed to decrease : and in our run from the coast of 
America westward, we did not find the depth to increase, as 
is usual in running from land. Which peculiarities made us 
conclude, that there was land at no great distance from us to 
the north, and that we were sailing on a line parallel with its 
coast. Northward of our track also, as we ran towards the 
Asiatic coast, was a continuity of ice which seemed as if 
formed into a close barrier by a long extent of coast. 
The nature of the soundings, with the absence of tide, 
gave to this sea so much the character of a mediterranean 
sea, that some on board, in particular Mr. Bailey the astro- 
nomer, and myself, who being in the same ship communed 
