As we advanced to S. W., land opened off this point, in the direction of N. 60° West, and nine leagues beyond it. It proved an island quite detached from the main, and obtained the name of Pickersgill Island, after my third officer. Soon after, a point of the main, beyond this island, came in sight, in the direction of N. 55° W.; which exactly united the coast at the very point we had seen, and taken the bearing of, the day we first came in with it, and proved to a demonstration that this land, which we had taken for part of a great continent, was no more than an island of seventy leagues in circuit. Who would have thought that an island of no greater extent than this, situated between the latitude of 54° and 55°, should, in the very height of summer, be in a manner wholly covered many fathoms deep with frozen snow, but more especially the S. W. coast? The very sides and craggy summits of the lofty mountains were cased with snow and ice; but the quantity which lay in the valleys is incredible; and at the bottom of the bays, the coast was terminated by a wall of ice of considerable height. It can hardly be doubted that a great deal of ice is formed here in the winter, which in the spring is broken off and dispersed over the sea; but this island cannot produce the ten-thousandth part of what we saw; so that either there must be more land, or the ice is formed without it. These reflections led me to think that the land we had seen the preceding day might belong to an extensive track; and I still had hopes of discovering a continent. I must confess the disappointment I now met with, did not affect me much, for to judge of the bulk by the sample, it would not be worth the discovery. I called this land the Isle of Georgia in honour of his Majesty. It is situated between the latitude of 53° 57ʹ and 54° 57ʹ S.; and between 38° 13ʹ and 35° 34ʹ W. longitude. It extends S. E. by E., and N. W. by W. and is thirty-one leagues long in that direction; and its greatest breadth is about ten leagues. It seems to abound with bays and harbours, the N. E. coast especially; but the vast quantity of ice must render them inaccessible the greatest part of the year; or, at least, it must be dangerous lying in them, on account of the breaking up of the ice-cliffs. It is remarkable that we did not see a river or stream of fresh water, on the whole coast. I think it highly probable that there are no perennial springs in the country; and that the interior parts, as being much elevated, never enjoy heat enough to melt the snow in such quantities as to produce a river or stream of water. The coast alone receives warmth sufficient to melt the snow, and this only on the N. E. side; for the other, besides being exposed to the cold south winds, is in a great degree deprived of the sun’s rays by the uncommon height of the mountains.