5' south, they all at once got within such a cluster of these islands, together with a large quantity of loose pieces, that to keep clear of them was a matter of the utmost difficulty.

On the 22nd of the month, the Resolution was in the highest latitude she had yet reached; and circumstances now became so unfavourable, that our commander thought of returning more to the north.

Here there was no probability of finding any land, or a possibility of getting farther south.

To have proceeded, therefore, to the east in this latitude, must have been improper, not only on account of the ice, but because a vast space of sea to the north must have been left unexplored, in which there might lie a large tract of country.

It was only by visiting those parts, that it could be determined whether such a supposition was well founded.