IC E . water ; and the whole will then amount to 6.,g69'6ao,ooo cubic
feet o f folid ice, which mull o f courfe be a ftupendous mafs. But
the enormous fize o f thefe icy mafles is not the only objedt o f our
aftonifhment, for the great number o f them is equally furprizing.
In the year, 1773 on the 26th, o f December, we counted 186 mafles
o f ice all in fight from the mail head, whereof none was lefs" than
the hull o f a fliip. A t other times we were every where furrounded
by ice iflands, or obliged to alter our courfe, becaufe it was ob-
ftrudled by an immenfe field office. On thefe occafiohs'we faw
firft fmall pieces o f loofe, broken ice, full of' holes and pores like
a fpunge, thus wafted by the continual agitation o f the waves; behind
them appeared large flat and folid mafles, o f an immenfe extent.
Between them we obferved ftupendous large and high ice
iflands, likewife folid but formed in the moll ftrange manner into
points, fpires and broken rocks. A l l this fcene o f ice extended
as far'as the eye could reach. However, it is likewife remarkable,
that in different years, feafons and places o f the fea, we found the
ice differently fituated. In the year 1772,. December the 10th, we
faw the ice between 50° and 51" o f Southern latitude. In 1773 on
December the 12th, we found the firft ice in 62° South latitude.
In 1775, in January the 27th, we faw ice in about 60° South latitude.
On February the 24th, we came to the fame place, where
:about 26 months before, we had met with fqch an impenetrable
body
body o f ice, as had obliged us to run to the Eaft; but where at i c e .
this laft time no vellige o f it appeared no more than at the place,,
where B o u v e t had placed his Cape Circumcifion, we having failed
over the whole trad, which he fufpeded to be land; nor could we.
be miftaken in its fituation, as we had been on the fame parallel for
“a confiderable time: fo that it is impoflible to have miffed the land,
if. any had exifted, as we had frequent opportunities to afcertain our
latitude.
Another circumllance worthy o f notice, is,, that.all ice floating in.
the fea yields frelh water when melted. However care muff be
taken never to colled: fuch ice which is fpungy and. honeycombed,
from the agitation of the waves, as this kind of Lee. always contained
confiderable quantity o f brine in the interftices and. ipungy cavities
which does not entirely drain from it by fuffering' it to lie on the:
deck of the fliip, and therefore is lels: fit. for yielding good potable
water. This kind o f ice may well be diftinguifhed. from the more
folid forts both by its appearance and by its fituation, as it commonly
is the outermoil at the approach o f any large quantity o f ice,
and therefore more expofed to the agitation of the waves.. To-
leeward o f large ice mafles, commonly loofe pieces o f ice are drifting
o f various fizes; thofe that are nearell the large mafs, are commonly
the moil folid, and therefore the moil proper for fupplying the fliip
with water. O f .this ice, fuch pieces are taken up as can be conveniently