174 DEFLECTION or MAGNETOMETER. [December, 



137 '80, equal to 27 'CO of deflection, a disturbance not 

 before recorded ; even between nine and midnight we 

 have a deflection of 21 '30 ! 



The barometer, during the interval between eight and 

 midnight, suddenly changed from 29 - 8GO to 29'650, re- 

 gaining its height, and rising to 29'900, when the mag- 

 netometer at sixteen hours showed 107'90. 



I had almost begun to conjecture that we were in too 

 cold a medium, or that it might not extend to so high a 

 latitude. Considering, too, that its first appearance gene- 

 rally occurs with the first shades of winter, I could hardly 

 understand its prolonged absence. I had observed it, to 

 the north of Behring's Strait, on the 25th August and 

 continuously up to the 5th October, in its greatest bril- 

 liancy ; and in Wales, at Swansea, in August. But I 

 notice that Parry, in his first voyage, and nearest to us, 

 did not record it until the 8th of January ; on his third, 

 which follows in order of latitude, in October and No- 

 vember ; and in his second, in October. I did not wit- 

 ness it myself, indeed it was not reported : I casually 

 heard of it next day, and issued orders " invariably to 

 call me." It was only on perusing the official report 

 called for from Lieutenant Cheyne, that I was induced 

 to search the magnetometer records for its motions. 



December 5. Another aurora, noticed this evening, 

 presented vertical shoots or broom-like fasciae, shooting 

 towards the zenith (from behind the hill north-north- 

 west), in pale flame-tinted rays, to an altitude of 20. 

 No disturbance was recorded, but it is highly probable 

 that the variations registered at nine and ten P.M. are at- 

 tributable to tliis influence. It recurred about midnight, 



