March 5.
therefore as nearly as possible in the latitude, and between forty and fifty miles distant from the N.E. extreme of Lieutenant Wilkes's land: we were also twenty-two miles to the northward of our reckoning; but I ascribe this error less to the effects of a current than to the uncertainty of our reckoning, occasioned chiefly by running to leeward of the many bergs we had to avoid during the gale. In our dull sailing vessels we dared not attempt to weather the bergs during a fog, for if they were close enough to be seen, we had no chance of passing them to windward; and from the great strength of our ships, we did not apprehend any damage from the streams of fragments that are almost invariably found under their lee; but in vessels not so well prepared to encounter ice, it is always the safest plan to pass to windward of the bergs when practicable.
We had a moderate breeze from the eastward, and a beautifully clear day, so that land of any great elevation might have been seen at a distance of sixty or seventy miles. As we advanced on our course in eager expectation of "making the land," our surprise and disappointment may be imagined when no indications of it were to be seen at sunset, although we were not more than twelve or thirteen miles from its eastern extreme, as laid down on Lieutenant Wilkes's chart; and we began to suspect that from having had but little experience of the delusive appearances in these icy regions, he had mistaken for land some of the dense well-defined clouds which so continually
