124 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



October a scno0 ^ was a ^ so established under the voluntary superintendence of Mr. 



^rs-/ Halse, for the instruction of such of the men as were willing to take advan- 

 tage of this opportunity of learning to read and write, or of improving in 

 those acquirements. The same plan was adopted on board the Hecla, Ben- 

 jamin White, one of the seamen who had been educated at Christ Church 

 school, volunteering to officiate as school-master. Tables were setup for the 

 purpose in the midship part of the lower deck ; some of the men already thus 

 qualified undertook the task of assisting in the instruction of their shipmates, 

 and thus were about twenty individuals belonging to each ship occupied 

 every evening from six till eight o'clock. I made a point of visiting the 

 school occasionally during the winter, by way of encouraging the men in 

 this praise-worthy occupation, and I can safely say that I have seldom 

 experienced feelings of higher gratification than in this rare and interesting 

 sight. 



While these internal arrangements were making, the interests of science 

 were not neglected. A day or two after our arrival Mr. Fisher and myself 

 selected a spot for the portable observatory, which was immediately erected 

 for the purpose of making magnetic observations ; and as soon as the car- 

 penters could be spared from the necessary duties of the ships, a house was 

 built for the reception of the instruments requisite in conducting the other 

 observations and experiments. A portion of the house was, by Mr. Fisher's 

 suggestion, parted off as an observatory, having slits to open in the roof and 

 sides in the direction of the meridian. This method was considered likely 

 to be especially useful in a series of observations for the atmospheric refrac- 

 tion, which Mr. Fisher proposed making at low temperatures, and which on 

 account of the difficulties attending the use of the repeating-circle, and of 

 most other instruments in severely cold weather, it was scarcely possible to 

 do, except in the neighbourhood of a warm apartment. The house was built 

 of our spare boat-plank, the sides, which were double and filled with sand 

 between, being fixed to capstan bars set upright, and sunk two feet into the 

 ground, which we found quite loose and dry for about thirty inches below 

 the surface ; beyond that depth it was frozen almost as hard as a rock, re- 

 quiring extreme labour in digging into it, The larger apartment, in which a 



resorted to during this and the succeeding winter ; and I am happy to avail myself of this 

 mode, the only one in my power, of thanking our benefactress and assuring her that her 

 present afforded a fund of amusement fully answering her kind intentions. 



