324 Voyage of the Novara. 



niglit of 23rd May the sky suddenly cleared. No sooner, 

 however, had the officer of the watch selected a star by 

 which to calculate his position, than he found himself in- 

 volved in no small perplexity. The Southern Cross and 

 Centaur were close to the zenith, and when the seamen di- 

 rected their wondering gaze to the magnificent aspect pre- 

 sented by the southern stellar hemisphere, they could with 

 difficulty recognize the old familiar European constellations 

 as they now shone forth along the northern horizon, with 

 sadly diminished brilliancy. 



The further south the Novara ran, the more melancholy 

 grew the aspect both of the sun and the moon. Fog, clouds, 

 and rain obscured a great proportion of the feeble light left, 

 and although the clearness of the night occasionally made 

 some compensation, yet to sailors long accustomed to the 

 warm, smiling tropical skies, they seemed doubly cold and 

 gloomy. 



The frigate rolled heavily, her oscillations increasing the 

 general discomfort, although the fetch of ocean was less than 

 off the Cape of Good Hope. Impelled by favourable winds, 

 the good ship rapidly neared the southernmost point of her 

 voyage, and every one on board watched with ever increasing 

 interest the alterations in the natural phenomena of these 

 inhospitable latitudes. 



Several days were lost in calms and easterly winds, and 

 partly to catch the southerly breezes which might drive her 

 N.E. into the zone of constant winds, partly for the purpose 



