180 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
up close to the stove having caught fire, and 
communicated immediately to the dry mats with 
which the inside of the house was lined. 
Monday, 28th. -— We had a portion of the 2d, 
19th, and 22d articles of war read on the quarter- 
deck to-day, and after that a long order relating 
chiefly to some difference between two of the ae 
cers some days ago. 
Wednesday, Ma ‘ch 8th.— Nothing has occurred 
for this week past deserving of particuilas notice, 
except haloes and parhelia, which have been seen at 
different times round the sun; their usual distance, 
or I may say, indeed, their almost invariable dis- 
tance from it is about 223°; although from their 
edge being sometimes but badly defined, it is 
found occasionally to be a few minutes, and some- 
times even a degree less. The most beautiful phe- 
nomenon of this kind that I have yet seen was ob- 
served this afternoon ; the parhelia were so bright, 
that had the sun not been in sight, either of them 
(for there were two) might be supposed to be the 
real one behind a thin cloud. They were parallel 
to the horizon, at the usual distance from the sun, 
and situated so that a straight line drawn from the 
one to the other would pass through that luminary. 
The side that was nearest to it was of a bright 
reddish colour, which vanished gradually into 
orange, and that again into yellow ; but instead of 
the rest of the prismatic colours following, as 
usual, in succession, the next colour was a very 
brilliant white, which occupied the centre of the 
parhelia. The halo was also very beautiful, and 
presented all the prismatic colours faintly. 
18 
