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KERGUELEN’S VOYAGE TO THE NORTH. 71S
marks of Iceland be very high, you muft be near to them to fee them, owing to their
fummits being covered with fnow, and loft in fogs frequently, as I have (I believe) be-
fore obferved. I founded on taking the bearing before defcribed, and met with one
hundred and five fathoms water, with a muddy bottom. [ obferved with care the
fame day the variation of the needle, which I found to be 29°. I was then within fight
of land, in 67° degrees of latitude:
The nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-firft, the wind variable. fometimes weak, at
others violent. I bore under various gales to obferve the bearings of the land, and look
for the French fifhing veffels, which ufually are widely difperfed.
The twenty-fecond, at three o’clock in the morning, the wind E., the fky ferene ; I
bore to the north as far as 69° of latitude. Ithenapplied to myfelf the lines of Virgil =
Hic vertex nobis femper fublimis; at illum
Sub pedibus ftix atra vidat, manefque profundi
Maximus hic flexu finuofo dubitur anguis
Circum, perque duas in morem fluminis arctos
Ardtos, oceani metuentes equore tingi. Lib. I. Georg.
The fog thickening, and the wind changing to the fouth, I made a tack to S. S. W.,
for fear of being furrounded by the ice, owing to the fog and currents. Towards ten
at night the wind became violent, neverthelefs I carried the two lower fails. In the
night the tack and falfe tack of the main-fail gave way, the {mall ftay-fail was carried
away ; at the fame time a furge {truck the prow violently, and knocked off one of the
bumpkins.
g ie twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth, it blew N. and N. E. a gentle gale,
with a fine fea, but continually a thick fog. 1 {teered S. under eafy fail, and founding
every two hours. This precaution was neceflary, for as we had foggy weather for feveral
days, and the Dutch charts notice that the currents run weft at the north of Langernefs,
I might very eafily have encountered the fhore ; but after founding from time to time,
I found I had nothing to fear in fteering to the fouth, as there are forty fathoms water
four leagues from fhore to the north of Langernefs. .
The twenty-fixth we had a frefh breeze from the N. W., and fine weather ; I ob-
ferved and found the latitude 65° 57’. In the evening I {poke with feveral French and
Dutch fifhermen, and faw two corvettes from Dunkirk, which were leaving the fifhery
and returning to France.
The twenty-feventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth, the wind changeable, roundmg
the compafs, the heavens overclouded, and fog at intervals. As all the fifhing veffels
are accuftomed to leave the fifhery between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth of Augutt, I
made ready for my return as well to Breft, the more willingly from the continual reign
of foggy weather, and the inceflant bad weather, which put it out of my power to be of
any fervice. Thefe latter days were occupied in my feeking the ifland Enkhuyfen. I
got into its latitude, and bore on different tacks, E. and W.., in order to fall in with it,.
but in vain. In the night of the twenty-eight we were under fome uneafinefs: it was
very dark, and perfectly calm: the officer on watch came to wake and tell.me that they
heard an unufual noife. I immediately went upon deck, and effectively heard founds
like thofe made by the fea on breaking over rocks. I immediately hove the lead, and
payed out one hundred fathoms without finding a bottom. Neverthelefs the noife con-
tinued about a quarter of an hour, after which we heard no more of it. I imagine the
noife to have been occafioned by a fwarm of fifh about the frigate ; and confider that
there is room for believing that Enkeuyfen ifland is no longer in exiftence, fince of five
hundred
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