the
east, west, or south." This field was followed along to the south-east
for some days, but no opening was found, so being in constant danger from
detached pieces, Cook reluctantly gave orders to change the course to the
northward. About the middle of December signs of scurvy began to show,
and extra precautions were at once taken; fresh wort was served out
regularly to all hands and the worst case received considerable benefit
from the treatment, although "Rob of Lemons and Oranges" (a sort of jelly
made from the fruits) had had no effect. Furneaux reported at this time
that he had cured two very bad cases with the Rob.

SHIPS PARTED.

When they had got thoroughly clear of all signs of ice, Cook once again
turned south, and by 26th December had worked down as far as 50 degrees
31 minutes South, 26 degrees 57 minutes East, where, though surrounded by
large masses of floating ice, they steered to the west, leaving the main
ice field to the north of them. Gradually working down to 60 degrees
South in the longitude given for Cape Circumcision, and being some
ninety-five leagues further south, with no signs of land, Cook concluded
that M. Bouvet must have been deceived by the ice. (Bouvet Island was
discovered by the German Deep Sea Discovery ship Valdivia on 25th
November 1898. The position was fixed as 54 degrees 26.4 minutes South, 3
degrees 24.2 minutes ??South, and not 54 degrees South, 11 degrees 20
East, as given to Cook, which will account for his want of success in his
search for it.) Here Mr. Wales was enabled to get a sight of the moon for
the second time since leaving the Cape of Good Hope, and, taking several
observations, fixed the position of the ship with tolerable accuracy.
Changing the course to East-South-East, very foggy weather was
encountered, accompanied by great cold, which coated the rigging with
ice, rendering it very pretty to the eye but difficult and unpleasant to
work. Cook says that, though this suggested very intense cold to the
mind, in reality the thermometer was rather higher than it had been, and
the sea was far less encumbered with ice. Taking large blocks of ice on
board it was found that, when the sea water was drained off, they
provided perfectly fresh water on melting, thus removing a great weight
from Cook's shoulders, and he determined on venturing further to the
southward. On 17th January 1773 they crossed the Antarctic Circle in
longitude 39 degrees 35 minutes East, and at no