- E. [8] "We Had Scarcely Any Night During Our Stay In The Frigid Zone, So That I Find Several Articles

In my father's journal, written by the light of the sun, within a few minutes before the hour of midnight.

The sun's stay below the horizon was so short, that we had a very strong twilight all the time. Mahine was struck with great astonishment at this phenomenon, and would scarcely believe his senses. All our endeavours to explain it to him miscarried, and he assured us he despaired of finding belief among his countrymen, when he should come back to recount the wonders of petrified rain, and of perpetual day." - G.F.

[9] "To-day, while we were observing the meridian altitude of the sun, a shower of snow came from the west, and passed a-head of the ship; during which, a large island of ice, considerably within the visible horizon, and directly under the sun, was entirely hid by it; yet the horizon appeared as distinct, and much the same as it usually does in dark hazy weather. When the shower was over, I found that it required the sun to be dipped something more than his whole diameter to bring his lower limb to the nearest edge of the ice island, which must have been farther off than the visible horizon, during the shower; and yet this would have been taken as the real horizon, without any suspicion, if it had been every where equally obscure. Hence may be inferred the uncertainty of altitudes taken in foggy, or what seamen, in general, call hazy weather. - W.

[10] A few days before, according to Mr G.F.'s relation, his father and twelve other persons were confined to bed with rheumatism; and though the scurvy had not appeared in any dangerous form, yet a general languor and sickly look were manifested in almost every face, and Captain Cook himself was pale and lean, and had lost all appetite. - E.

[11] "Our situation at present was indeed very dismal, even to those who preserved the blessing of health; to the sick, whose crippled limbs were tortured with excessive pain, it was insupportable. The ocean about us had a furious aspect, and seemed incensed at the presumption of a few intruding mortals. A gloomy melancholy air loured on the brows of our shipmates, and a dreadful silence reigned amongst us. Salt meat, our constant diet, was become loathsome to all, and even to those who had been bred to a nautical life from their 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, of which only the extremities are annually broken off by storms, consumed by the action of the sun, and regenerated in winter. This opinion is the less exceptionable, since there seems to be no absolute necessity for the existence of land towards the formation of ice, and because we have little reason to suppose that there actually is any land of considerable extent in the frigid zone." - G.F.

"Mr F. has most amply and ably discussed the point in his observations, controverting unanswerably, as the writer thinks, the opinion of Buffon and others, as to the existence of southern lands being necessary for the production of such large masses of ice. The limits of the present note preclude the insertion, in any satisfactory shape, of the opposing arguments; but there is ground for anticipating an opportunity of considering the subject, and some others of an interesting nature, in a manner more suitable to their importance, than a mere notice implies. We go on then with the narrative.

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