16 Voyage of Capt. Sir James C. Ross to the Antarctic. 



Feb. 25. — A fine view of the coast was enjoyed in the after- 

 noon. " The lofty range of mountains appeared projected with 

 well defined outline upon a perfectly clear sky : although of a 

 spotless white with but a patch of bare rock, yet the protuber- 

 ances, cones and smaller eminences and deep valleys produced so 

 much variety of light and shade as to relieve the monotonous 

 glare of the surface. 



The season was now so far advanced that great danger attended 



their lingering longer in these regions. The barrier of packed 



ice through which they had penetrated threatened to become a for- 

 midable obstacle to their escape, and moreover there was a heavy 

 swell, which is characteristic of the south polar seas, rendering 

 the navigation of the Antarctic at all times more hazardous than 

 that of the Arctic ocean. 



March 1 and 2. — The aurora aastralis appeared in bright col- 

 orless confiscations rising to 30° of altitude. This aurora differed 

 from that seen in the arctic regions. The vertical beams were 

 longer and the light came more in flashes ; it was perfectly color- 

 less and with a lateral flitting motion. The center of an irregu- 

 lar arch of light bore to the magnetic W., thus implying that as 

 in the arctic regions, the principal seat of the aurora is not in the 

 higher latitudes ; in the southern hemisphere it is probably in 

 lat. 68°. 



March 7. — The perils of these Antarctic seas were numerous 

 and appalling; but such dangers are of course encountered, more 

 or less, by all navigators in polar regions. When in lat. 65° 31' S., 

 long. 102° 9' E., a heavy easterly swell was driving them down 

 upon the pack. From the mast-head, they counted at one time 

 eighty-four large bergs and some hundreds of smaller dimensions. 



"We found," says the narrator, "we were fast closing this 

 chain of bergs so closely packed together that we could distin- 

 guish no opening through which the ships could pass, the waves 



breaking violently against them, dashing large masses of pack 

 ice against the faces of the bergs; now lifting them nearly to 

 their summit, then forcing them again far beneath their water 

 line, and sometimes rending them into a multitude of brilliant 

 fragments against their projecting points. 



" Sublime and magnificent as such a scene must have appeared 

 under different circumstances, to us it was awful if not appalling. 

 For eight hours we had been drifting towards what to the human 

 eye appeared inevitable destruction ; the high waves and deep 

 rolling of our ships rendered towing with the boats impossible, 

 and our situation the more painful and embarrassing from our ina- 

 bility to make any effort to avoid the dreadful calamity that seem- 

 ed to await us." — "In moments like these, comfort and peace of 

 mind could be obtained only by casting our cares upon that 

 almighty power which had already so often interposed to save us 



