IN HIGH LATITUDES, 



15 



moderate and cloudy weather. Fresh southerly, 

 south-westerly, and west-south-westerly breezes fol- 

 lowed, and hard squalls, with sleet, but no gale of 

 wmd. It remained below 29 inches till we had 

 passed the latitude of 57° south, and afterwards rose 

 very gradually, till, having reached the latitude of 

 56° south, on the l6th of December, it stood at 30 

 inches. It gave no warning of the approach of the 

 gale on the 11th, but fell during its continuance 

 nearly to 29 inches from 29^28, which it had stood 

 at before. 



From a consideration of these circumstances, it is 

 to be apprehended, that the barometer, which in 

 middle latitudes is so useful an instrument in fore- 

 telling changes of weather, may sometimes fail us in 

 very high, as it almost always does in very low la- 

 titudes. On the return passage round Cape Horn, 

 on the 15th of August 1822, during the opposite sea- 

 son, the same thing was observed, viz. a fall so low 

 as 28,88, in latitude 56|° south, which was not fol- 

 lowed by any bad weather. The wind was then 

 N. W. and moderate. Perhaps it is affected in high 

 latitudes by fogs and rains in a greater degree than 

 it is in middle latitudes, where I have not observed 



