426 APPENDIX. 
the necessity of turning the ship's head towards a more temperate 
climate. 
It required more moral courage to bring my mind to this decision 
than I can well describe, for we had at that moment less ice about us 
than at any time since we had entered its neighbourhood ; and had I 
followed my own inclinations merely, and allowed the promptings of 
ambition, or love of praise, to have governed my decisions, regardless 
of the future operations of the Expedition, the lives of my officers and 
men, and the trust reposed in me by the government, I should indeed 
have been unworthy of the trust I hold, and ever felt a consciousness, 
that whatever more might have been achieved, by any further attempt 
south, at that late season, would have been acquired only by reck- 
lessly hazarding, what an honest conviction of duty to my country, 
and the lives intrusted to my care, most decidedly forbade. 
We observed the aurora australis for the first time, on the night of 
the 15th of March, in the latitude of 65° 24/ S., and again on the 
16th, 18th, and 26th. On the night of the 18th, an arc of pale 
twilight was described in the southern quarter, reaching an altitude 
of twelve degrees, and extending from southwest to southeast ; both 
above and below the arc were horizontal sheets of dark stratus clouds, 
and between the lower strata and the horizon, a suspended bank of 
mist or vapour, having all the appearance of a shadow cast on the 
sky; rays of light were continually being thrown out along the whole 
extent of the arc, assuming various hues, of pale red, light blue, violet, 
and straw-coloured tints ; radiating towards the zenith, and reaching 
altitudes of from twenty-five to forty-five degrees. These exhibitions 
were confined to that particular portion of the horizon, and continued 
through the greater part of the night, which was of the clearest star- 
light, — the Southern Cross garnishing the zenith, and the Magellan 
clouds showing more distinctly than I had ever before seen them. 
The weather, during our cruise south, was very unfavourable for 
witnessing any very splendid exhibitions of the aurora; for, with few 
exceptions, during our stay in the Antarctic Circle, we were enveloped 
in dense fogs, or found only occasional relief from such falls of snow, 
as may fairly be classed with any one of our old-fashioned snow- 
storms at home. 
The greatest dip obtained, from the experiments with Dolland's 
needle, was 78°; and in the latitude of 68° S., we found nearly four 
points easterly variation. 
