1875 HOMING PIGEONS. 199 



but we could detect no disturbance in the magneto- 

 meter. Contrary to the popular belief, the aurora 

 gives us no appreciable light. 



< 30th.— With the exception of the " Polaris " we 

 have now experienced a greater degree of darkness 

 than any of our predecessors. To-day, with a perfectly 

 clear sky, from a distance of half a mile in a southerly 

 direction, the ship was distinctly visible from 11 a.m. 

 to 1 p.m. At noon, just topping the southern hills, 

 was a faintly tinted pearly green sky, through which 

 stars of the first magnitude had a difficulty in shining ; 

 above, it toned off into a slightly brightened light blue 

 which extended to the zenith ; from thence to the 

 northern horizon was a distinctly brightened dark 

 blue sky. When the twilight, after lingering for eight 

 hours, has left us, the reflection from the prevailing snow 

 is sufficient, even at midnight, to brighten the heavens 

 and to render the stars in the " Milky Way " very faint ; 

 in fact that glorious band, only apparent on dark nights, 

 is here scarcely visible. When mist or snow-drift 

 obscures the stars then only is the darkness intense ; 

 it is never equal to the black gloom of a coal mine. / 

 The continuousness of the darkness, rather than its 

 intensity, is the depressing accompaniment of winter in 

 the Arctic regions.' 



After the ship was fixed in winter-quarters an at- 

 tempt was made to train the carrier-pigeons to return 

 to the vessel. In doing so one was lost, and the three 

 remaining were then left to fly about the ship and 

 accustom themselves to the neighbourhood. As the 

 cold increased they preferred remaining in their house ; 

 consequently they were berthed below on the lower- 



