io 6
DccYmber fall, and his gums entirely renewed. As the efficient
caufe of his complaint ftill exifted, he Was obliged to con-
tinue the ufe of wort even after his cure, and by that
means was kept free from all' fcorbutic fymptoms. The
encomiums on the efficacy of malt cannot be exaggerated},
and this ufeful remedy ought never to be forgotten on
board of fhips bound on long voyages ; nor can we bellow
too much care to prevent its becoming damp and mouldyr
by which means its falutary qualities are impaired, as we'
experienced during the latter part of our voyage.
The new year began with fnow-lhowers and frelh coldf
r,iday | gaieSi which carried us to the weftward, under the meridian,
where M. Bouvet placed the difcovery, which he
called Cape Circumcifion. The fight of feals and pin-
guins once more revived the hopes of fome of our fellow-
voyagers, who bid us look out for land, which by their
account could not be far off. Our courfe however foon
difappointed their expectations, and only ferved to invalidate
their teftimonies of the proximity of land.
_ The wind fhifted to the north-weftward in the night, Sunday 3,
and we flood back again to the eaft, having firft proceeded
beyond the meridian of M. Bouvet’s difcovery. We paffed
the fpot where we had met with much ice on the 31ft of
December, and found it drifted away from thence ; after
which we continued our courfe to the S. E.
On
On the 9 th, in the morning, we faw a large illand of
ice, furrounded with many fmall broken pieces, and the
weather being moderate we brought to, hoifted out the
boats, and fent them to take up as much of the fmall ice
as they could. We piled up the lumps on the quarterdeck,
packed them into calks, and after dinner melted
them in the coppers, and obtained about thirty days water,
in the courfe of this day, and in the latitude of 61’ 36'
fouth. Two days afterwards we had another opportunity
of fupplying our Hoops with ice, which our people performed
with great alacrity, notwithftanding the excoriation
of their hands, which the cold and the lharpnefs of the
fea produced. A pidturefque view of fome large maffes
of ice, and of our fhips and boats employed in watering
from fmall ice, is inferted in Captain Cook’s account of
this voyage. Some white whales of a huge lize, feem-
ingly fixty feet long, were obferved here, and many pin-
guins floated paft us, Handing upright on fmall bits of
ice. The water we melted out of this ice was perfectly
frelh, and had a purer tafte than any which we had on
board. If any fault could be found with it, it was that
the fixed air was expelled from it, by which means almoft
every one who ufed it was affedted with fwellings in the
glands of the throat. Water melted from fnow or ice is
known always to have this effeft, and the conftant ufe of
it in mountainous countries produces thofe enormous wens
P 2 (goitres)
*773-
. January,
Saturday 9«