A V O Y A G E îl $6 O U'ND TH E WOR E f).
demm»e*.. *o 3 7 f > however we'had no Tooner pafled it, thaft tfcè Mercury
regained its former Ration Of 41°. We à3 fô fOïitfd
that this difference of four degrees, very perceptibly affected
our bodies, and concluded that the large MaftbS of ice
greadyconwibrfted ;to refrigerate the general temperature of
the air in théfe inhofpitable ' The waves daflréd with
great violence againfi the ifland of ice, as againfi a fixed
body ; fometinaes they broke entirely over it, notwithfiand-
ing its height, which was not much inferior to that of
the beforementioned piece, and we frequently faw the fprây
rife very high above it, a phenomenon, which, on account
of the fair weather, had a remarkable fine effect. The fea-
water by this means wafhed upon the ice, is probably con-
. gealed there, and ferves to ehcreafe the mafs ; à cirfcuMRanee
very materially conducive to afcertain the hiRory of
its formation;
Notwithflanding the coldnefs of this Cliniâte, bur floops
were- Rill furrounded by birds of the petrel genus, albatrof-
fes and pinguins. We particularly obferved a petrel, about
the fize of a pigeon, entirely white, with a black bill and
blueifh feet ; it conflantly appeared about the icy maffes,
and may be looked upon as a fure fore-runner of ice. Its
colour induced us to call it the fnowy-petrel. A grampus
and feveral whales likewife made their appearance among
the ice, and in thefe chilling regions ferved to vary the
difmal
A VO Y A GE ROUND THE WORLD. 97
difmal feene, and gave us fome idea of a fouthern Green- December.
land. ,77,‘
The number of icy maffes encreafed around us every day, Sunday ,3;
fo that we numbered upwards of twenty of a vafl fize on
the 1 3 th in the afternoon. One of them was full of black
fpots, which were taken for feals by fome, and for aquatic
birds by others, though we could not find that they
even fhifted their places; However feals being hitherto
looked upon as certain figns of land, we founded in the
evening with a line of one hundred and fifty fathoms,
but found no bottom. The latitude we were now in, was
that in which Captain Lozier Bouvet had placed his pretended
difcovery of Cape Circumcifion, and our longitude
was only a few degrees to the eaflward of i t : the general
expectation of feeing land, was therefore very great, and
every little circumflance like the preceding roufed all our
attention; the clouds a-head were curioufly examined at
every moment, fince every one was eager to be the firfl to
announce the land. We had already had feveral «falfe
alarms from the fallacious conformation of fog-banks, or
that of iflands of ice half hid in fnow fiorms, and our
confort the Adventure had repeatedly made the fignals for
feeing land, deceived by fuch appearances ; but now, the
imagination warmed with the idea of M. Bouvet’s difcovery,
one of bur lieutenants, after having repeatedly been
up to the maR-head, (about fix o’clock in the morning on
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