140 CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 



Now the leaf is down, the Bostal discovers itself in a faint 

 delicate line running up the Hanger, such as would require 

 the hand of a Grimm to express it. 



LETTER XXXII. 



TO SAMUEL BARKER. 



[Extract from Forster's ' Observations/ sent by G. W. to his nephew 

 Samuel Barker, Mar. 26, 1781.] 



" I NEVER heard or read of any one who had seen the southern 

 lights (Aurora australis) before us ; and tho' we spent three 

 different seasons in or near the Arktic circle, we, however, 

 observed them only the first time in the year 1773 for seven 

 different nights. We were at that time from 58 to 60 S. lati- 

 tude, and the therm, at 8 o'clock in the morning stood from 

 31 to 33 in the open air on deck. Their appearance was much 

 the same as that of the N. lights : They were observed shoot- 

 ing up to the zenith in columns or streams of a pale light 

 from a dark segment as a base near the horizon, and often 

 spread over the whole S. hemisphere. Sometimes these lights 

 were so transparent that stars could be observed thro' them ; 

 and at other times the stream seemed to be white, and more 

 dense and opaque, and would not transmit the light of the 

 stars. We saw these meteors on Feb. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 

 and on Mar. 15 and 16." FORSTER'S Observations in a Voyage 

 round the World, p. 120. 



S. Lambeth, Mar. 26, 1781. 

 DEAR SAM, 



RECOLLECTING that you enquired of me once with some earnest- 

 ness whether our late circumnavigators had ever observed any 

 auroras in the S. hemisphere, I have sent you the quotation 

 above, which will put the matter beyond all doubt. My thanks 



