246 
FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
air to see our friend off we found the black water of the eulf 
was covered with a thin coating of ice-needles. The water 
gradually changed to a delicate, rosy tint of lavender as 
it receded into the distance, and lay so still that the ice 
islands were scarcely distinguishable from their reflections. 
I would willingly give my left hand to have the power to 
paint or describe this one scene of divine beauty. Last 
night filled us with awed admiration ; but the purity and 
heavenly colouring of this still morning is almost oppres- 
sively beautiful. We feel our black ship's hull and our 
sombre clothes in painful discordance with this land of 
white and rainbow colouring. 
Monday, 26th. — Lat. 64.30 S. ; long. 55.28 W. A clear, 
fine morning, with a bracing wind from the S.E. The 
thermometer at 31 0 . We left the pack-edge this morning. 
The three vessels are beating about in the open water in 
the gulf between Trinity Land and the somewhat closely- 
