her from the icebergs or the
southern lands. Later on, the current would draw them to the height
of the fiftieth parallel, which, in the southern hemisphere, is that
of Paris or Quebec. But we were much impeded by huge banks of fog
which frequently shut out the horizon. Nevertheless, as these waters
presented no danger, and there was nothing to fear from ice packs or
drifting icebergs, the _Halbrane_ was able to pursue her route towards
the Sandwich Islands comfortably enough. Great flocks of clangorous
birds, breasting the wind and hardly moving their wings, passed us
in the midst of the fogs, petrels, divers, halcyons, and albatross,
bound landwards, as though to show us the way.

Owing, no doubt, to these mists, we were unable to discern Traversey
Island. Captain Len Guy, however, thought some vague streaks of
intermittent light which were perceived in the night, between the
14th and 15th, probably proceeded from a volcano which might be that
of Traversey, as the crater frequently emits flames.

On the 17th November the schooner reached the Archipelago to which
Cook gave the name of Southern Thule in the first instance, as it
was the most southern land that had been discovered at that period.
He afterwards baptized it Sandwich Isles.

James West repaired to Thule in the large boat, in order to explore
the approachable points, while Captain Len Guy and I descended on
the Bristol strand.

We found absolutely desolate country; the only inhabitants were
melancholy birds of Antarctic species. Mosses and lichens cover the
nakedness of an unproductive soil. Behind the beach a few firs rise
to a considerable height on the bare hill-sides, from whence great
masses occasionally come crashing down with a thundering sound.
Awful solitude reigns everywhere. There was nothing to attest the
passage of any human being, or the presence of any shipwrecked
persons on Bristol Island.

West's exploration at Thule produced a precisely similar result. A
few shots fired from our schooner had no effect but to drive away
the crowd of petrels and divers, and to startle the rows of stupid
penguins on the beach.

While Captain Len Guy and I were walking, I said to him,--

"You know, of course, what Cook's opinion on the subject of the
Sandwich group was when he discovered it. At first he believed he
had set foot upon a continent. According to him, the mountains of
ice carried out of the Antarctic Sea by the drift were detached from
tha