had now left us, the grey albatrosses only remained, and instead of the other birds we were visited by a few antarctic peterels. The 22d we steered east-south-east with a fresh gale at north, blowing in squalls, one of which took hold of the mizzen top-sail, tore it all to rags, and rendered it for ever after useless. At six o’clock in the morning, the wind veering toward the west, our course was east-northerly. At this time we were in the latitude of 67° 31ʹ, the highest we had yet been in, longitude 142° 54ʹ west. We continued our course to the east by north till noon the 23d, when, being in the latitude of 67° 12ʹ, longitude 138° 0ʹ, we steered south-east, having then twenty-three ice islands in sight from off the deck, and twice that number from the mast-head, and yet we could not see above two or three miles round us. At four o’clock in the afternoon, in the latitude of 67° 20ʹ, longitude 137° 12ʹ, we fell in with such a quantity of field or loose ice, as covered the sea in the whole extent from south to east, and was so thick and close as wholly to obstruct our passage. At this time, the wind being pretty moderate, and the sea smooth, we brought to at the outer edge of the ice, hoisted out two boats, and sent them to take some up. In the mean time, we laid hold of several large pieces alongside, and got them on board with our tackle. The taking up ice proved such cold work, that it was eight o’clock by the time the boats had made two trips; when we hoisted them in, and made sail to the west, under double-reefed top-sails and courses, with a strong gale at north, attended with snow and sleet, which froze to the rigging as it fell, making the ropes like wires, and the sails like boards or plates of metal. The sheaves also were frozen so fast in the blocks, that it required our utmost efforts to get a top-sail down and up; the cold so intense as hardly to be endured; the whole sea, in a manner, covered with ice; a hard gale, and a thick fog. Under all these unfavourable circumstances, it was natural for me to think of returning more to the north, seeing no probability of finding any land here, nor a possibility of getting farther south; and to have proceeded to the east, in this latitude, must have been wrong, not only on account of the ice, but because we must have left a vast space of sea to the north unexplored; a space of 24° of latitude, in which a large track of land might have lain. Whether such a supposition was well-grounded, could only be determined by visiting those parts.