187G TEMPERATURE ABOVE ZERO. 301 



or which shines most gloriously in the fairy scene. 

 After a careful inspection I think that purple is the 

 most prominent colour near the sun, red is decidedly 

 the principal colour fringing the outer border of each 

 cloudlet. 



. 11th. — A calm day with the temperature at noon 

 at last above zero. Clothes hung up in the sun dry 

 quickly. This is the perfection of weather for the 

 travellers, and very different to what they must have 

 experienced during the first week. We were able to 

 work outside on the ice without adding to the clothes 

 usually worn on board the ship, merely putting on a 

 cap without ear-laps. The snow on the land, particu- 

 larly on the southern slopes, is greatly hardened and 

 glazed by the sun. The estimated fall during the last 

 six weeks is only one inch, which is certainly not equal 

 to the quantity that has evaporated. 



' Petersen is progressing favourably ; we look 

 anxiously at our best vegetated spots for game, hoping 

 to obtain a ptarmigan for him as they pass us journey- 

 ing towards the N.W., but we can find nothing. 



' A fine circular prismatic halo was seen round the 

 sun with a distinct prismatic parhelion at the usual 

 distance on each side and above it, with a second circle 

 curving upwards through the upper mock sun. The 

 wardroom skylights have been uncovered and the 

 sunlight permitted to take the place of the spluttering 

 lamps. How changed everything appears, but how 

 dirty ! 



' 14th. — Doctor Moss and Mr. White with their 

 sledge crews returned to-day, having accompanied 

 Commander Markham to the depot at Cape Joseph 



