154 JOURNAL OF A GREENLAND VOYAGB. 



Having now given a meteorological register, 

 carefully kept by myself, on a voyage from Whit- 

 by to Greenland, and back, I may be permitted to 

 annex a few remarks on the great utility of the 

 Barometer and Thermometer at sea. When these 

 instruments are well attended to, they will seldom 

 fail to enable us to predict any great atmospheric 

 change : and if the oscillations of each instrument 

 be connectedly studied, not only the strength of the 

 coming wind, but its direction and continuance 

 may be guessed at, and with very considerable ac- 

 curacy. An extract from my private journal will 

 strikingly prove the truth of the above assertion. 



" On April the 5th 1811, latitude 70*49', and 

 longitude 7°lvVE, the barometer had stood at 

 29-88, for about thirty-five hours; the mean 

 t of three observations of the thermometer during 

 the day, was lly**, the wind blowing a fresh gale 

 from the northward. At noon, on the following 

 day, we had a moderate breeze of wind at north- 

 west, which, towards evening, increased to a fresh 

 gale, exceedingly variable and squally, accompanied 

 with thick showers of flaky snow. At 3 PM. the 

 thermometer had risen to 17°, and at 6 PM. to SZ^'- 

 This remarkable rise of 17 degrees of temperature 

 in nine hours, made me suspect, a south-east wind 

 was about to prevail, and because the barometer 

 had fallen to J^9.50, a severe storm might be ex- 

 pected. Since the barometer stands highest on 



