WE PREPARE FOR THE SLEDGE EXPEDITION 19 



brilliant show. Here he could manipulate his instru- 

 ments quietly and comfortably, undisturbed by the 

 biting wind outside. He thought it quite warm there, 

 too, when he could get the temperature up to something 

 like 20° below freezing-point, so that he was able without 

 much inconvenience to adjust his instruments with bare 

 hands. Here he worked away indefatigably at his ob- 

 servations day after day, watching the often mysterious 

 movements of the magnetic needle, which would some- 

 times give him no end of trouble. One day — it was No- 

 vember 24th — he came into supper a little after 6 o'clock 

 quite alarmed and said, "There has just been a singular 

 inclination of the needle to 24°, and, remarkably enough, 

 its northern extremity pointed to the east. I cannot re- 

 member ever having heard of such an inclination." He 

 also had several others of about 15°. At the same time, 

 through the opening into his observatory he noticed that 

 it was unusually light out-of-doors, and that not only the 

 ship, but the ice in the distance, was as plainly visible as 

 if it had been full moonlight. No aurora, however, could 

 be discerned through the thick clouds that covered the 

 sky. It would appear, then, that this unusual inclination 

 was in some way connected with the northern lights, 

 though it was to the east and not to the west, as usual. 

 There could be no question of any disturbance of the 

 floe on which we were lying; for everything had been 

 perfectly still and quiet, and it is inconceivable that a 

 disturbance which could cause such a remarkable oscilla- 



