48 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



water, brought us on the following morning off the place where we had left the whalers at anchor. 

 We found that several more had arrived. After communicating to the fleet the position of the 

 ice and its rapid southerly movement, we kept on towards the coal mine. The weather being fine 

 and the wind falling light in the afternoon, we coupled up the propeller and ran under a "slow 

 bell," keeping along in G fathoms of water. At 8 p. m. we were off Cape Beaufort. I was anx- 

 ious to stop and make an examination of the coal vein said to exist there, but indications of a 

 change in the weather and the uncertainty of being able to find coal in any quantities decided us 

 to keep on to the vein opened by us last year, where we felt sure of getting a few tons without 

 great difficulty, if the weather remained fine, and, in case of bad weather, we could be that much 

 nearer to Point Hope, where we would be able to make a lee. Soon after passing the whaling 

 fleet in the morning, the Belvidere got under way and steamed to the southward. In the evening 

 we had a wonderful exhibition of the effect of the refraction of light, in which that vessel took a 

 very prominent part, and the many fantastic forms assumed by her in the mirage, when about 20 

 miles distant, was a source of wonder and amusement to all on board for several hours. Subse- 

 quently I learned from Captain Owens that he had ou that occasion seen from the Belvidere's 

 mast-head the entire fleet of whale ships at anchor off Icy Cape with sufficient distinctness to tell 

 which way they were heading, although over 50 miles distant. To complete this most remarkable 

 exhibition, just before midnight a stratus cloud not more than two degrees wide by fifteen degrees 

 long appeared beneath the sun, which was still above the northern horizon. This cloud, acting as 

 a prism, decomposed the rays of the sun's light and produced, between the cloud and the horizon, 

 a solar spectrum of great beauty and brilliancy constantly varyiug in intensity, owing to the 

 change in position of the cloud, at times showing all the colors of the rainbow, and at others only 

 one or two, again dying out completely, only to reappear by running through all the colors suc- 

 cessively, each showing but a second of time and giving place to the next. This display lasted 

 half an hour, and was a scene long to be remembered. During the day the sky had been filled 

 with long, streaked-looking, thin, white clouds, which seemed to radiate from a point in the south- 

 west, a few degrees above the horizon, and many of them extended over au arc of one hundred 

 degrees in an almost unbroken line. Below these and somewhat nearer were strata of yellowish- 

 looking clouds, such as often precede rain and are considered an indication of it in the lower lati- 

 tudes. The higher bauds, which I have never seen outside of the Arctic regions, differ entirely in 

 appearance from the streaked condition often shown by cirrus clouds in the lower latitudes, and 

 possess characteristics which the others do not. These bands, which are exceedingly light and fleecy, 

 are parallel to each other from a perspective point of convergence, which, in the few cases that I 

 have observed, appear to be at first in or near the magnetic meridian anil to run parallel with it, 

 although changes are constantly taking place in the position of their axes. The bauds, while 

 retaining their relative position, often change their point of convergence, through an arc of ninety 

 degrees. They appear at any time without regard to existing forms of clouds, whether cirrus, 

 cumulus, or stratus. At times they form in a few minutes from a perfectly cloudless sky, and, 

 after remaining visible for a short time, fade away and disappear without changing their relative 

 positions. A more common way of disappearing, however, is for them to move off in a direction 

 at right angles to the line of their bands, and without changing the position of the axial points 

 or their relation to each other, disappear below the horizon, leaving no trace behind. I observed 

 these clouds closely during the cruise, but could not discover that they exerted any particular 

 influence on the weather, as I had at first supposed, on account of their precediug a blow on one 

 or two occasions, leading me to refer to them as one of the indications of approaching bad weather; 

 but as on this and other occasions they were followed by several days of very fine weather, I can 

 at best only suppose that they may indicate a change and are in no way responsible for the nature 

 of it. It is more than probable, however, that they indicate magnetic disturbances, which might 

 be readily traced by careful observations made with suitable instruments on shore. A singular 

 fact in connection with these clouds is that, no matter how faint they may appear, whenever they 

 pass over the face of the sun or moon, they produce a bright halo; in fact their presence is often 

 first detected by a faint halo, which increases in brilliancy as the clouds become more distinct. 



