Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/352

254 At noon we were in lat. 70° 27′ S., and long. 167° 32′ E., and about this time the snow cleared off for two hours, so as to give us a view of a fine range of mountains whose summits we had not before seen; the loftiest of the range I called Mount Elliot after Rear Admiral the Honourable George Elliot, C. B., Commander-in-Chief in the Cape of Good Hope station, whose great kindness to us, and warm interest he took in our enterprize I have already had occasion to mention.

A breeze from the north-east at 6 enabled us to stand out of a deep bight of the pack into which the swell had driven us; and the barometer standing at 28.5 inches, we could not but expect a storm and dirty weather: I was therefore glad to get some distance to the S.E. before it came on. At noon it shifted to the east, and we tacked to the N.N.E. for the night, expecting it would blow hard from the quarter in which the wind seemed now to have settled, which made us the more anxious to get as clear of bergs and as far from the pack as possible; but, contrary to our expectations, after blowing only a strong breeze for a few hours, it again declined to a light air, which after midnight was attended with thick weather and snow showers, rendering our course amongst the bergs and heavy loose ice somewhat difficult and hazardous, and requiring the utmost vigilance of the officers and crew.

The uncertain state of the weather, the light