Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/413

] during the few following nights, and its fixed character at length assured us that it must be the tail of a comet, which eventually proved to be the case. It was seen a few days sooner than by us at the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, and Barbadoes; but not until the 17th of March in Europe, where Sir John Herschel published the earliest notice of it, designating it as a "Comet of enormous magnitude in the course of its progress through our system, and at present not far from its perihelion."

At 6.30. we recrossed the Antarctic circle for the last time, in longitude 13° 30′ W., and by noon were in latitude 65° 56′ S., and longitude 13° 36′ W., having made good a course of N. 17° E., one hundred and thirty-six miles, since noon of yesterday.

As we must necessarily pass near Bouvet Island, which has been so frequently sought in vain, our course was shaped so as to get into its supposed latitude at about ten degrees to the westward, that we might, by sailing to the eastward on that parallel, ascertain its position with some degree of precision. We had a succession of strong S.W. gales, and passed a great number of bergs, which obliged us to proceed under reduced sail during the long dark nights of this late season of the year.

On the 15th and 18th, we had opportunities of trying the temperature of the sea, which we found at 600 fathoms to be 39°; at 450 fathoms, 37°.8; at 300 fathoms, 36°.8; at 150 fathoms, 35°.2; at