>775- wall of ice of confiderable height. It can hardly be doubted
. that a g reat deal of ice is formed here in the winter, which,
Friday 20. {{le fafog, ;s broken off, and difperfed over the fea ; but
this ifland cannot produce the ten-thoufan.dth part of what
we faw; fo that either there muft be more, land, or the ice
is formed without it. Thefe reflexions led me to think that
the land we had feen the preceding day, might belong to
an extenfive track; and I Hill had hopes of difcovering a continent.
I muft confefs the difappointment I now met with,
did not affedt me much; -for, to judge of the bulk by the
fample, it would not be worth the difcovery.
I called this land the Ifte of Georgia in honour of his Ma-
jefty. It is lituated between the latitudes of 53° 57' and 54.°
5 7 'South; and between 38° 13' and 34'Weft longitude.
It extends S. E. by E. andTL W. by W., and is thirty-one
leagues long in that diredlion; and its greateft breadth is
about ten leagues. It feems to abound with bays and harbours,
the N. E. coaft efpecially; but the vaft quantity of
ice muft render them inacceffible, the greateft part of the
year; or, at leaft, it muft be dangerous lying in them, on
account of the breaking up of the ice cliffs.
It is remarkable that we did not fee a river, or flream of
frefh water, on the whole coaft. I think it highly probable''
that there are no perennial fprings in the country; and that
the interior parts, as being much elevated, never enjoy heat
e n o u g h to melt the fnow in fuch quantities as to produce a
river or ftream of water. The cdaft alone receives warmth
fufficient to melt the fnow, and this only on the N. E., fide ;
for the other, befides being expofed to the cold fouth winds,
is in a great degree deprived of the fun’s rays by the uncommon
height of the mountains.
It was from a perfuafion that the fea-coaft of a land fitu- '775- - x . - January.
ated in the latitude of 540, could not, in the very height of — -----<
furrimer, be wholly covered-with fnow, that I fuppofed Fr djy
Bouvet’s difcovery to be large iflands of ice. But after I had
feen this land, I no longer hefitated about the exiftence of
Cape Circumcifion ; nor did I doubt that I fhould find more
land than I fhould have time to explore. With thefe ideas I
quitted this coaft, and diredted my courfe to the E. S. E. for
the land we had feen the preceding day.
The wind was very variable till noon, when it fixed at N.
N. E., and blew a gentle g a le ; but it increafed in fuch a
manner, that, before three o’clock, we were reduced to our
two courfes and obliged to ftrike top-gallant yards. We
were very fortunate in getting clear of the land, before this
gale overtook u s ; it being hard to fay what might have been
the confequence had it come on while we were on the
north coaft. This ftorm was of fhort duration ; for, at eight
o’clock, it began to abate; and at midnight it was little wind-
We then took the opportunity to found, but found no bottom
with a line of an hundred and eighty fathoms.
Next day the .ftorm was fucceeded by, a thick fog attended SatulvJay 2J
with rain; the wind veered to N. W., and at five in the
morning it fell calm, which continued till eight; and then
we got a breeze foutherly, with which we flood to the Eaft
till three in the afternoon. The weather then coming
fomewhat clear, we made fail, and fleered North in fearch of
the land ; but, at.half pad fix, we were again involved in a
thick mift, which made it neceffary to haul the wind, and
fpend the night in making fhort boards.