Chap. XIII.]
POSITION OF THE MAGNETIC POLE.
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one hundred and sixty miles of the pack, frequently entering the outer edge as far as we could without getting beset, without perceiving any opening in it by which we could penetrate to the south; and at noon, the 11th, were in latitude 64° 37′, and longitude 45° 39′; on the 14th we crossed Weddell's Feb. 14.track, in latitude 65° 13′ S., but under what different circumstances! he was in a clear sea: we found a dense, impenetrable pack; and as Admiral D'Urville was unable to attain even to the 64th degree, we must conclude that Weddell was favoured by an unusually fine season, and we may rejoice that there was a brave and daring seaman on the spot to profit by the opportunity.
Still pursuing our examination of the pack to the eastward, we crossed the line of no variation on the 22d, in latitude 61° 30′ S., and longitude about Feb. 22.22° 30′ W., where the magnetic dip being 57° 40′, gives the position of the magnetic pole in remarkable accordance with our previous determination; the circle of equal dip passing through New Zealand, and having the pole exactly half way between us and that place, seems satisfactorily to confirm my previous suggestion, that there is but one pole of verticity in the southern hemisphere, not very distant from the place computed by Gauss, but much more remote from the spot he had assigned to it, and where I was directed to seek for it.[1] We had no soundings with seven hundred and fifty- ↑ See Appendix, to Vol. II., p. 58.
