, AA Aurora australis. Fine weather. AiMTATjnTTr 1 rPTTTCT? 



l44 Improvement in the health of the crew. ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



Land in sight. 



On the 8th, at daylight, we ngain made sail 

 ;o the southward, and found at 4 A.M. the field of 

 ice had stopped our progress, and the weather was 

 thick. Land was no longer seen to the south, a 

 deep bay apparently making in. We continued 

 our course to the westward along the barrier, until 

 8 P.M., when we were again brought to. At 7 P.M. 

 we had strong indications of laud ; the barrier was 

 of the former perpendicular form, and later the 

 outline of the continent appeared distinct though 

 distant. The night was dark and unpleasant. At 

 noon our longitude was 127 7' E., and latitude 

 65 3' S.; variation 14 30' westerly. 



On the 9th we had the finest day we had yet 

 experienced on this coast ; the wind had veered 

 from the east to south-west, and given us a clear, 

 bracing, and wholesome atmosphere. The barrier 

 exhibited the same appearance as yesterday. Our 

 longitude was 125 19' E., latitude 65 8' S., 

 variation 32 45' westerly. The current was tried, 

 but none found ; the pot was only visible at five 

 fathoms ; the colour of the water a dirty green ; 

 the dip sector gave 3' 15". I never saw a clearer 

 horizon, or one better defined than we had to the 

 northward. The icy barrier was really beautiful. 

 At midnight we had a splendid display of the 

 aurora australis, extending all around the northern 

 horizon, from west-by-north to east-north-east. 

 Before its appearance, a few clouds only were seen 

 in the south-east, on which the setting sun cast a 

 red tint, that barely rendered them visible. The 

 horizon, with this exception, appeared clear and 

 well defined. The spurs or brushes of light fre- 

 quently reached the zenith, converging to a point 

 near it. 



Although no clouds could be seen in the direc- 

 tion of the aurora before or after its appearance, 

 yet when it was first seen, there appeared clouds, 

 of the form of massive cumuli, tinged with pale 

 yellow, and behind them arose brilliant red, purple, 

 orange, and yellow tints, streaming upwards in 

 innumerable radiations, with all the shades that a 

 combination of these colours could effect. In its 

 most brilliant state it lasted about twenty minutes. 

 The gold-leaf electrometer was tried, but without 

 being affected : the instrument, however, was not 

 very sensitive. Being somewhat surprised at the 

 vast mass of cumuli which appeared during the 

 continuance of the aurora, I watched after its dis- 

 appearance till daylight, but could see only a few 

 clouds : I am therefore inclined to impute the 

 phenomenon to some deception caused by the light 

 of the aurora. The apparent altitude of these 

 clouds was 8. 



On the 10th we were again favoured by the 

 weather; it gave us a fine sunshine, and an oppor- 

 tunity of airing the ship and drying the clothes. 

 All the sick were improving in health. 



Running close along the barrier, which con- 

 tinued of the same character, although more broken 

 than yesterday, we saw an appearance of land, al- 

 though indistinctly, to the southward. The water 

 was of the same colour here as before, and the 

 wind being from the south-south-east, we made 

 some progress, and found ourselves in longitude 

 122 35' E., latitude 65 2?' S.: the variation had 

 now increased to 44 30' westerly. No aurora 

 was seen this night, although it was looked for 

 anxiously. 



llth. The barometer had been stationary at 



29'080 in. for the last three days : it now began to 

 fall ; the temperature of the air was 31, of the 

 water 32. The fall of the barometer was soon 

 followed by snow and thick weather. The trending 

 of the barrier had been south-west-by-west, and a 

 good deal of floe-ice had been met with, which we 

 ran through. The sea was quite smooth, and many 

 icebergs were enclosed in the barrier, which was 

 very compact, and composed of flat fields. At 

 10 P.M., I found it too dark to run, and hove- 

 to. 



During the 12th we had pleasant weather, and 

 at 2 A.M. filled away. At 8 A.M., land was reported 

 to the south-west. Keeping along the barrier and 

 increasing our latitude, I again had hopes of 

 getting near the land. We passed through great 

 quantities of large floe-ice until 1 P.M., when the 

 solid barrier prevented our further progress. Land 

 was now distinctly seen, from eighteen to twenty 

 miles distant, bearing from south-south-east to 

 south-west, a lofty mountain range, covered with 

 snow, though showing many ridges and indenta- 

 tions. I laid the ship to for three hours, in hopes 

 of discovering some opening or movement in the 

 ice, but none was experienced. I tried the current, 

 and found none. The water was of a dirty dark 

 green. We sounded with the wire-line in two 

 hundred and fifty fathoms, and found no bottom. 

 The temperature at that depth was 30J, of the 

 air 31. The barrier had in places the appear- 

 ance of being broken up, and we had decreased 

 our longitude to 112 16' 12" E., while our lati- 

 tude was 64 57' S. This puts the land in about 

 65 29' S., and its trending nearly east and west. 

 The line of the icy barrier was generally uniform, 

 although it was occasionally pierced with deep 

 bays. We saw some icebergs with decided spots 

 of earth on them, which gave me hopes of yet ob- 

 taining the object of my wishes. The water was 

 remarkably smooth during this day, and the 

 weather clear, enabling us to see a great distance. 

 Two hours after we bore away, we left the floe- 

 ice, and entered a clear sea to the westward, where 

 we lost sight of the barrier for a time ; but in 

 hauling up to the south-west, it was, by 8 P.M., 

 within three miles of us, when we again kept off 

 parallel to its trending. The appearance of hind 

 still continued. Shortly after, I hove-to, for the 

 purpose of awaiting the daylight to continue our 

 observations of the land, with little prospect or 

 probability of reaching it, from the immense quan- 

 tity of ice which continued to form an impenetrable 

 barrier. 



13th. At 2 A.M. we made sail to the south-west 

 in order to close with the barrier, which we found 

 retreated in that direction, and gave us every 

 prospect of getting nearer to it. Our course, for 

 the most part, was through icebergs of tabular 

 form. In the afternoon we had the land ahead, 

 and stood in for it with a light breeze until GJ 

 P.M., when I judged it to be ten or twelve miles 

 distant. It was very distinct, and extended from 

 west-south-west to south-south-east. We were 

 now in longitude 106 40' E., and latitude 65 57' 

 S. ; the variation was 54 30' westerly. The water 

 was very green. We sounded in three hundred 

 fathoms, and found no bottom. The weather having 

 an unsettled appearance, we stood off to seek a 

 clearer space for the night. The land left was 

 high, rounded, and covered with snow, resembling 



