342 ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



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 disappearance 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 opportunity of airing the ship and drying the 

 clothes. All the sick were improving in health. 



Running close along the barrier, which continued of the same 

 character, although more broken than yesterday, we saw an appear- 

 ance of land, although indistinctly, to the southward. The water was 

 of the same colour here as before, and the wind being from the south- 

 southeast, we made some progress, and found ourselves in longitude 

 122° 35' E., latitude 65° 27' S. : the variation had now increased to 

 44° 30' westerly. No aurora was seen this night, although it was 

 looked for anxiously. 



11th. 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 

 southwest-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 southwest. 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 farther progress. Land was 

 now distinctly seen, from eighteen to twenty miles distant, bearing from 

 south-southeast to southwest, — a lofty mountain range, covered with 

 snow, though showing many ridges and indentations. 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 



