Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/129

] from half a mile to two miles: one of these near Bull Bay lies still further off, and being considerably inclined, in one point of view, resembles a ship under a press of sail; hence its appellation, "Ship Rock." Another, near the south-eastern extreme, is called "Church Rock," from another fancied similarity; but the most remarkable of them all is the perforated rock to the westward of the North Cape of Possession Island, through which we were told a small vessel might sail.

Favoured by a strong north-westerly breeze we advanced rapidly towards Kerguelen Island. On the morning of the 3d, when in lat. 47° 17′ S., long. 58° 50′ E., the first piece of Antarctic ice was seen by us, though so small as scarcely to deserve the name of an ice-berg, being not more than twenty feet high and evidently fast dissolving, yet it was sufficiently solid to injure seriously any vessel that might run against it. We passed several beds of floating sea-weed, and were accompanied on our course by many of the great albatross, and the large dark petrel, and still more numerously by the speckled Cape pigeon and stormy petrel, of two or three different kinds. These birds added a degree of cheerfulness to our solitary wanderings, which contrasted strongly with the dreary and unvarying stillness of the tropical region, where not a sea-bird is to be seen, except only in the vicinity of its few scattered islets, which is the more remarkable where the ocean abounds so plentifully with creatures fit for their food.