178 MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY. Chap. XL 



and exhilarating ramble upon snow-shoes to-day; without 

 them I could not have gone over half the distance — the 

 snow lies so deep and soft — but I saw only one reindeer. 



\\th. — One of our magnetic observatories has been built ; 

 it stands upon the ice, 210 yards S. (magnetic) from the ship, 

 and is built of ice sawed into blocks — there not being any 

 suitable snow; it is just large enough to hold the declino- 

 meter for hourly observations, to be noted throughout the 

 winter. The housings have been put over the ship already, 

 as Hobson will leave us again in a few days to advance his 

 depot and my own to the vicinity of the magnetic pole if 

 possible. I would also send Young upon a similar duty, but 

 the western sea cannot have frozen over yet. 



19th. — All the 17th a N.W. gale blew with fearful violence; 

 yesterday it abated, but not sufficiently to allow our party 

 to start. This morning Hobson got away with his nine men 

 and ten dogs ; his absence may be from eighteen to twenty 

 days. Autumn travelling is most disagreeable ; there is so 

 much wind and snow, the latter being soft, deep, and often 

 wet ; the sun is almost always obscured by mist, and is 

 powerless for warmth or diying purposes, and the tempera- 

 ture is very variable. Moreover there are now only eight 

 hours of misty daylight. To-day the morning was fine, 

 and temperature +8°. Having completed the preliminary 

 observations of the times of horizontal and vertical vibra- 

 tions, also of the magnetic intensity, I set up to-day the 

 declinometer, and commenced the hourly series of observa- 

 tions on the diurnal variation. I trust it may continue 

 unbroken until we all set out upon our spring travels in 

 March. A hare has been shot, but no other animals seen. 

 The arctic expeditions have found hares everywhere except 

 at Port Leopold, where there is no vegetation at all. They 

 iove steep rocky slopes having a southern aspect, and in 

 such favourable situations as many as a dozen may some- 



