Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/378

280 At noon our observations placed us in lat. 64° 51′ S., long. 164° 45′ E., dip 83° 30′, variation 29° E. We were therefore very nearly in the centre of the mountainous patch of land laid down in Lieutenant Wilkes's chart as forming a part of the "antarctic continent."

The wind soon after this time falling light, we rounded to and tried for soundings, but could not reach the bottom with six hundred fathoms of line, beyond which we could not determine with any degree of certainty, on account of the ship having considerable drift. The temperature at that depth was 37°.2, that of the surface 29°.2, and that of the air having risen to 31°, felt quite warm to us. It was indeed a perfect Mediterranean day, and the remainder of it was passed in continuing our search after the supposed land, steering a course now more to the westward, and then north-west, until darkness put an end to our search.

At 10 the wind increased from the northeast, with the appearance of thick weather, dense clouds rising quickly in that direction; our topsails were double-reefed, and sail otherwise reduced so as to admit of the ship being more easily managed by the watch, in case of suddenly meeting with any quantity of loose ice, of which a brightness in sky to the westward gave us reason to suspect the presence in that quarter. We had seen sufficiently far before dark to remove any idea of finding land, but as pack ice can never be seen more than ten or twelve miles from the mast-head, we