1773.
March.
provision of fresh water was to be collected in lumps of ice floating on the sea, where the cold, and the sharp saline element alternately numbed, and scarified the sailors' limbs; we were perpetually exposed to the danger of running against huge masses of ice, which filled the immense Southern ocean: the frequent and sudden appearance of these perils, required an almost continual exertion of the whole crew, to manage the ship with the greatest degree of precision and dispatch. The length of time which we remained out of sight of land, and the long abstinence from any sort of refreshment were equally distressful; for our hooks and lines distributed in November (See pag. 90.) had hitherto been of no service, on account of our navigation in high southern latitudes, and across an unfathomable ocean, where we saw no fish except whales, and where it is well known no others can be expected; the torrid zone being the only one where they may be caught out of soundings.
Atrum
Defendens pisces hiemat mare.
We may add to these the dismal gloominess which always prevailed in the southern latitudes, where we had impenetrable fogs lasting for weeks together, and where we rarely saw the cheering face of the sun; a circumstance which alone is sufficient to deject the most un-daunted,
