Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/170

148 blow the thermometer received; but it is quite clear from that at 300 fathoms, that the mean temperature of the ocean in this latitude is about six hundred fathoms beneath the surface. We did not repeat the experiment as the ice opened, and allowed us to make some way to the southward through it; and those who wish to penetrate an extensive pack, must never miss any opportunity, however trifling, that may present itself, for it is always difficult to know how far it may lead you, or if neglected, how irretrievable may be the loss. Whilst we were hove to, three seals were killed on the ice and brought on board; they offered no resistance, and did not seem to apprehend any harm from our people, whom they suffered to approach near enough to knock them on the head with bludgeons; in the stomach of one of them were about nine pounds in weight of granite stones, which we imagined it must have got from off the floating ice, as we knew of no land within a thousand miles of us; in the stomach of another were the mutilated remains of some fish about the size of a herring, and in all of them great numbers of a large red shrimp, which appears to constitute their chief food.

During the next few days we were much embarrassed by fogs and light winds, chiefly from the eastward, and made but little progress in the desired direction, so that we found ourselves on the twenty-fifth in latitude 66º S. and longitude 156º 14′ W., and passed our Christmas-day, closely