ir tender
years: The hour of dinner was hateful to us, for the well known smell
of the victuals had no sooner reached our nose, than we found it
impossible to partake of them with a hearty appetite. In short, we
rather vegetated than lived; we withered, and became indifferent to
all that animates the soul at other times. We sacrificed our health,
our feelings, our enjoyments, to the honour of pursuing a track
unattempted before. The crew were as much distressed as the officers,
from another cause. Their biscuit, which had been sorted at New
Zealand, baked over again, and then packed up, was now in the same
decayed state as before. This was owing partly to the revisal, which
had been so rigorous, that many bad biscuit was preserved among those
that were eatable; and partly to the neglect of the casks, which had
not been sufficiently fumigated and dried. Of this rotten bread the
people only received two-thirds of their usual allowance, from
economical principles; but as that portion is hardly sufficient,
supposing it to be all eatable, it was far from being so when nearly
one half of it was rotten. However, they continued in that distressful
situation till this day, when the first mate came to the capstern and
complained most bitterly that he and the people had not wherewith to
satisfy the cravings of the stomach, producing, at the same time, the
rotten and stinking remains of his biscuit. Upon this, the crew were
put to full allowance. The captain seemed to recover again as we
advanced to the southward, but all those who were afflicted with
rheumatisms, continued as much indisposed as ever."--G.F.

[12] "The thermometer here was 32 deg., and a great many penguins were
heard croaking around us, but could not be seen, on account of the
foggy weather which immediately succeeded. As often as we had hitherto
penetrated to the southward, we had met with no land, but been stopped
sooner or later by a solid ice-field, which extended before us as far
as we could see: At the same time we had always found the winds
moderate and frequently easterly in these high latitudes, in the same
manner as they are said to be in the northern frozen zone. From these
circumstances, my father had been led to suppose, that all the south
pole, to the distance of 20 degrees, more or less, is covered with
solid ice