ERECTION OF AN OBSERVATORY. 1^7 



account in constructing paths and one general 

 road towards the shore. The officers kept their 

 regular watches ; nor in the peculiar situation of 

 the ship, and the uncertainty of what might hap- 

 pen in case of any sudden storm, were the men 

 at present discharged from the performance of 



the like duty. 



The temperature had hitherto been registered 

 every two hours, but on October 18th two large 

 spirit thermometers previously tested and found 

 to agree, were placed on each side of a thick 

 post fixed on the tafrail, in a direction due north 

 and south ; the southern thermometer having its 

 bulb freely exposed, and the northern one having 

 the brass guard usually thrown over the bulb by 

 the makers. These were now to be registered 

 every hour, and at 2 h p. m. October 20, with a 

 clear sky and a light air from west, the north 

 shewed 4° -h and the south 22°+. The follow- 

 ing day at 6 h p. m., wind light at N. N. E,, 

 the temperature fell to 15° by both. An hour 

 after, the weather became overcast, and they 

 rose to 8°. 



The risk of the ice separating had induced me 

 to defer the erection of an observatory, but now I 

 yielded to the urgency of Lieutenant Stanley, who 

 was eager to commence a series of astronomical 

 observations, and a party of officers and men, 

 under his directions, set about the work on a 



