explored, and a final end put to the searching after a southern
continent, which has, at times, ingrossed the attention of some of the
maritime powers, for near two centuries past, and been a favourite
theory amongst the geographers of all ages.

That there may be a continent, or large tract of land, near the Pole, I
will not deny; on the contrary I am of opinion there is; and it is
probable that we have seen a part of it. The excessive cold, the many
islands and vast floats of ice, all tend to prove that there must be
land to the south; and for my persuasion that this southern land must
lie, or extend, farthest to the north opposite to the southern Atlantic
and Indian oceans, I have already assigned some reasons; to which I may
add the greater degree of cold experienced by us in these seas, than in
the southern Pacific ocean under the same parallels of latitude.[11]

[Footnote 11: After what has been said of the utter inutility of a
southern continent to any human being, or even in the way of hypothesis
to explain the constitution of nature, it may seem quite unnecessary to
occupy a moment's attention about any arguments for its existence. As,
however, a few remarks were hazarded respecting those of a mathematical
kind, it may be proper to say a word or two as to others of a physical
nature. Two reasons for this supposition have been urged; viz. the
presence of rivers necessary to account for the large masses of
fresh-water ice found in high southern latitudes; and the existence of
firm and immoveable points of land round which these masses might form.
The first of these is glaringly erroneous in point of principle and
fact. In the first place, it is most certain, that the waters of the
ocean admit of being frozen, and that when so, they either do or do not
contain the salts they held in solution, according to certain
circumstances, which the argument does not require to be explained. And,