ic e . regularly, which carries thefe large mafles o f ice from each pole towards
the equinoctial line.
I fliould here finilh thefe remarks on the ice, i f i t were not ne-
ceifary to fay fbmething concerning its formation.. I know that
Mr. de Buffon, * L omonosof -)- and C r a n .t z J were o f opinion
that the ice found in the ocean, is formed near lands,, only from;
the frelh water and ice carried down into the lea by the many rivers;
in Sibiria, Hudfon’s Bays, &e . and therefore when we folk in- with;
fuch quantities o f ice in December, 1772,. I expedted. we fliould.
foon meet with the. land,, from whence thefe ice. mafles Had been,
detached. But being difappointed in the difcovery o f this land,,
though we penetrated beyond, the 67° twice, and once beyond 71°
South latitude,, and having befides-fome other doubts concerning;
the exiftence o f the pretended Southern Continent,., I. thought i t
neceffary to enquire, what reafons chiefly induced the above authors^
to form the opinion that the ice floating in the ocean*, muft be;
formed near land, or that; an Auftral land is abfolutely requifite for;
that purpofe §, and having looked for their arguments,, I find they
amount:
* De Buffon Hiftoire "Naturelle, edit-in 12mo. tom. 1. p. 313, 3*19. and tom; 2. p. 91. . 100*.
■ f Lomonofof Memoire on the ice mountains o f the Northern Sea,. in the Svoedijh tncmoirs o f the.
academy o f Stockholm, vol. X X V . Germ» edit.,
j Crantz’s hiftory of Greenland,, p. 18, 42;
§ BufFon Hift. Naturelle, tom; 1, p, 314, fpeaks of the Auftral Lands as neeeflary for the
formation.ofthe ice,.& tom, a, p-99.. 5
amount chiefly to this* “ that the ice floating in the ocean is all i c e .
m frelh, that fait water does not freeze at all, or i f it does, it eon-
tains briny particles; they infer from thence, that the ice in the
“ ocean cannot be formed in the fea, far from. any land; there
“ mull therefore exift Auftral lands ; becaufe in order to form an
“ idea o f the origin o f the great ice malfes agreeably to what is-
■ obferved in. the: Northern hemifphere, they find that the firft
“ ■ (point, dafipui) point for. fixing the high ice illands is the land,,
£ and. fecondly that the great, quantity o f flat ice is brought down.
“ the rivers.” I have impartially and carefully confidered and examined
thefe arguments,. and compared every circumftance with
what we law in the high Southern latitudes,, andwith other known,
fails* and w ill here, infert the refiilt. ó f 'all. my enquiries, on this,
fubjedl..
Firft*. they,'o&fervt:tie. ice floating in tée-ocean ta.yield by melting,
frefly water: which I believe to betrue; however, hitherto it has
by no means been generally allowed to be frelh,. for Crantz -j- fays
exprefsly, that, “ the flat pieces- (forming what they call the Ice-
Fields) are fait, becaufe they were congealed, from fea water.”
Th e ice. taken up by us , for watering the Ihip was o f all kinds, and
neverthelefs we found it conftantly frelh,,, which.proves* either that
the
•jr Crantz’s Hift. of^Greenland, p . 371».