FceVdlay, dated, is neverthelefs a proof of their great intelligencer
confidering. the few data upon which they could proceed.
Without afcertaining whether Sandwich Land is part of a
greater trafl, it may not be improper to mention,, that one
of the reafons alledged in favour of a continent, has lately
been overthrown by experiments. It has always been fup-
pofed that the ice, which is feen floating in immenfe quantities
on the fea, muft be formed on fhore from fnow or
frefh water; but it has now been proved that fea-water will
freeze, and that the ice which is thus formed does not contain
any particles of fait, except where it comes in con tacit
with the water, which introduces itfelf into its pores and
interftices *.
The barrennefs of Sandwich Land, the gradual encreafe
of the nights, and the approach of a more rigorous feafon
in thefe high latitudes, added to the confideration that we
had a long run to make before we arrived at another place
of refrefhment, and that our provifions were almoft expended,
induced captain Cook ,to abandon the further invefti-
gation of the coaft, and to fleer to the eaftward, nearly in
the parallel of 58° S. where we had frequent fnow £how-
ers, faw many ice-iflands every day, and, contrary to our
former obfervations, found the northerly winds colder than
* See Mr. Nairne’s Experiments in the L X V I . vol. of the Philofophical T ran f-
a&ions, part ||
thofe
Jm
thofe from the fouth ; on which a ftrong prefumption may F e brua r y .'
be founded, that there is no. land, in the laft: mentioned di-
reft ion.
The four krout, that excellent antifcorbutic food, of Friday .0;
which fixty large calks were put on board our Ihip, was
now entirely confumed, and the want of it was feverely felt
from the captain down to the failor. It enabled us to eat
our portion of fait meat, of which it correfted the feptic
quality. The wilh for a fpeedy releafe from this naufepu.s
diet now became univerfal, and our continuance in the high
latitudes of 58° and 57° vtas difagreeable- to all on board.
On the 15th we bore away to the northward, having crofled
the meridian of Greenwich, and on the 17 th, at noon,
reached, the parallel of M, Bouvet s difcovery of Gape Cir*
eumcifion, when we again ran to the eaftward that we might
not mifs it. The weather was favourable for the purpofe ;
we had a fair wind, and could fee to the diftance of eight
or ten leagues. On the 1 9th, in the morning, we crofled
the place where this cape is laid down by M. des Loziers
Bouvet, according to his own journal *, without having at
that time the leaft figns of land, or palling more than four
or five illands of ice in the courfe of the whole day. We
continued to run on in the fame parallel till the 2 2d, hav- wednefd. *»,
* See Mr. Dalrymple’s Colleflion of Voyages in the Southern Atlantic Ocean,
»7 7 5-