Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/375

] recrossed the Antarctic Circle, having been to the southward of it since the 1st of January, a period of sixty-three days.

As night advanced, the cry of the penguin was heard above the storm, which, added to the increasing quantity of heavy loose ice we met with, contributed to increase our apprehensions of dropping down upon the land or barrier under our lee, although we have frequently met with these birds at several hundreds of miles from any known land.

The extreme darkness of the night, and the thick weather preventing our seeing to any distance before us, kept all hands in a state of anxious vigilance throughout the continuance of the gale. Fortunately it began to moderate, and shifted to the southward before midnight, and the weather became so much clearer, that we could see bergs or loose ice in time to avoid them without difficulty; and thus relieved of all our anxieties, we kept under easy sail until daylight. The barometer, which had been so low as 28.4 inches, as usual gave notice of the approach of this favourable change of weather; and when day broke it was a very fine morning. We were now desirous of sighting the land which had been the occasion of so much fatigue and uneasiness to us during the stormy night we had passed, and our course was shaped accordingly.

By observations at noon we found ourselves in latitude 65° 34′ S., and longitude 167° 40′ E., and