Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/280

192 to the wealth of our country, in exact proportion to the energy and perseverance of our merchants; and these, we well know, are by no means inconsiderable. A fresh source of national and individual wealth is thus opened to commercial enterprise, and if pursued with boldness and perseverance, it cannot fail to be abundantly productive. We observed great quantities of molluscous and other minute marine animals, on which, no doubt, the whales were feeding; and large flocks of the young of the Cape pigeon were playing about, and feeding with them. In the evening the wind rather moderated, and the weather becoming more clear we were induced again to try and approach the land. The barometer also had risen to nearly twenty-nine inches, which we had now learnt to consider to indicate fine weather in these latitudes, although in England such a depression would be regarded very differently.

Early this morning we had a fine view of the magnificent chain of mountains that we had seen stretching away to the southward some days before, but then more imperfectly. With a moderate southerly wind we had beautifully clear weather, and we now saw them to great advantage; and as we stood towards them, we gazed with feelings of indescribable delight upon a scene of grandeur and magnificence far beyond anything we had before seen or could have conceived. These mountains also were completely covered to their sharply-pointed summits with snow, and the elevation