of Clerke's Rocks, after my second officer, he being the first who saw
them.[10]

[Footnote 10: There was no inducement to offer a single remark on the
discoveries mentioned in this section, and the one that follows, or to
give any additional observations from the works hitherto used. It is
utterly improbable that any human being could be benefited by the most
perfect information that might be afforded, respecting these desolate
regions. Mr G.F. it is true, hazards a speculation, that if the northern
ocean should ever be cleared of whales, by our annual fisheries, this
part of the southern hemisphere might be visited for the sake of
procuring these animals so abundant in it. But as besides this proviso,
he thinks it necessary that Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego should be
inhabited and civilized like Scotland and Sweden, there will evidently
be time enough some centuries hence, to investigate minutely the
geography and natural history of Georgia and its kindred
neighbours.--E.]


SECTION VI.

_ Proceedings after leaving the Isle of Georgia, with an Account of the
Discovery of Sandwich Land; with some Reasons for there being Land about
the South Pole_.


On the 25th, we steered E.S.E., with a fresh gale at N.N.E., attended
with foggy weather, till towards the evening, when the sky becoming
clear, we found the variation to be 9° 26' E., being at this time in the
latitude of 56° 16' S., longitude 32° 9' W.