longitude 26
degrees 57' E. Here he met with narrow fields of ice, about eight or ten
inches thick, and running northwest and southeast. This ice was in large
cakes, and usually it was packed so closely that the vessel had great
difficulty in forcing a passage. At this period Captain Cook supposed,
from the vast number of birds to be seen, and from other indications,
that he was in the near vicinity of land. He kept on to the southward,
the weather being exceedingly cold, until he reached the sixty-fourth
parallel, in longitude 38 degrees 14' E.. Here he had mild weather, with
gentle breezes, for five days, the thermometer being at thirty-six. In
January, 1773, the vessels crossed the Antarctic circle, but did not
succeed in penetrating much farther; for upon reaching latitude 67
degrees 15' they found all farther progress impeded by an immense body
of ice, extending all along the southern horizon as far as the eye could
reach. This ice was of every variety--and some large floes of it, miles
in extent, formed a compact mass, rising eighteen or twenty feet above
the water. It being late in the season, and no hope entertained of
rounding these obstructions, Captain Cook now reluctantly turned to the
northward.

In the November following he renewed his search in the Antarctic. In
latitude 59 degrees 40' he met with a strong current setting to the
southward. In December, when the vessels were in latitude 67 degrees
31', longitude 142 degrees 54' W., the cold was excessive, with heavy
gales and fog. Here also birds were abundant; the albatross, the
penguin, and the peterel especially. In latitude 70 degrees 23' some
large islands of ice were encountered, and shortly afterward the clouds
to the southward were observed to be of a snowy whiteness, indicating
the vicinity of field ice. In latitude 71 degrees 10', longitude 106
degrees 54' W., the navigators were stopped, as before, by an immense
frozen expanse, which filled the whole area of the southern horizon. The
northern edge of this expanse was ragged and broken, so firmly wedged
together as to be utterly impassible, and extending about a mile to the
southward. Behind it the frozen surface was comparatively smooth for
some distance, until terminated in the extreme background by gigantic
ranges of ice mountains, the one towering above the other. Captain Cook
concluded that this vast field reached the southern pole or was
joined to a continent. Mr. J. N. Reynolds, whose grea