and drizzling
rain.

We prosecuted our course to the east, inclining to the south, till three
o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th, when, (being in the latitude of 60 deg.
37', longitude 113 deg. 24') the wind shifting at once to S.W. and S.W. by S.,
I gave orders to steer E. by N. 1/2 N. But in the night we steered E. 1/2
S. in order to have the wind, which was at S.S.W., more upon the beam, the
better to enable us to stand back, in case we fell in with any danger in
the dark. For we had not so much time to spare to allow us to lie-to.

In the morning of the 5th, we steered E. by N., under all the sail we could
set, passing one ice island and many small pieces, and at nine o'clock the
wind, which of late had not remained long upon any one point, shifted all
at once to east, and blew a gentle gale. With this, we stood to the north,
at which time we were in the latitude of 60 deg. 44' S., and longitude 116 deg. 50'
E. The latitude was determined by the meridian altitude of the sun, which
appeared, now and then, for a few minutes, till three in the afternoon.
Indeed the sky was, in general, so cloudy, and the weather so thick and
hazy, that we had very little benefit of sun or moon; very seldom seeing
the face of either the one or the other. And yet, even under these
circumstances, the weather, for some days past, could not be called very
cold. It, however, had not the least pretension to be called summer
weather, according to my ideas of summer in the northern hemisphere, as far
as 60 deg. of latitude, which is nearly as far north as I have been.

In the evening we had three islands of ice in sight, all of them large;
especially one, which was larger than any we had yet seen. The side opposed
to us seemed to be a mile in extent; if so, it could not be less than three
in circuit. As we passed it in the night, a continual cracking was heard,
occasioned, no doubt, by pieces breaking from it. For, in the morning of
the 6th, the sea, for some distance round it, was covered with large and
small pieces; and the island itself did not appear so large as it had done
the evening before. It could not be less than 100 feet high; yet such was
the impetuous force and height of the waves which were broken against it,
by meeting with such a sudden resistance, that they rose considerably
higher. In the evening we were in latitude of 59 deg. 58' S., longitude 118 deg.
39' E. The 7th, the wind was variable in the N.E. and S.E. quarters,
at