2 9 o SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
“ The Antarctic Expedition ” was composed and per- 
formed in their honour, a compliment kindly meant, 
though as one of the spectators remarked, “it was but 
rather indifferently got up and not much better acted.” 
There were parties and picnics ashore, and in return the 
officers gave a grand ball on board the two ships. The 
Erebus connected with the shore for the purpose by a 
covered bridge of boats, was the ball-room, the Terror 
moored close alongside her consort, and entered by 
covered gangways, was the supper-room, and the enter- 
tainment lasted til) 4 a. m. 
Three months were spent in well-earned rest and re- 
freshment, but by no means in idleness, for the ships 
were refitted, the magnetic observations kept up, and Dr. 
Hooker, with the few other members of the expedition 
who were inclined to scientific studies, made valu- 
able collections in the course of their excursions, which 
threw much light on the geology and botany of Tas- 
mania. 
On July 7th, the two ships sailed for a cruise in the 
warmer Australasian seas, and a week later they entered 
Port Jackson. The people of Sydney, who remembered 
the visit of Bellingshausen twenty years before, and had 
so recently seen much of the French and American ex- 
peditions, were now, for the first time, able to examine 
ships thoroughly equipped for service in the ice, which 
had in consequence been able to cross the Antarctic pack 
and penetrate to the edge of the great barrier. While 
the Australians satisfied their curiosity and offered their 
hospitality the Antarctic officers were hard at work in- 
stalling a magnetic observatory on Garden Island — for 
the more desirable site at Fort Macquarie, where Wilkes 
had made his observations in 1839 had been rendered 
