HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES 291 
useless for magnetic work by the erection of fortifications 
containing such masses of metal in the guns and cannon 
balls as to disturb the needles. The preparations were 
delayed by bad weather, and on one day a total rainfall 
of 8^ inches was registered — one-third of the quantity 
that usually falls in a year in the east of England. All 
was ready, however, for the term-day on July 21st, 
when simultaneous magnetic observations were made 
at hourly intervals in all parts of the world. This work 
over, the expedition sailed as soon as the instruments 
could be dismounted and brought on board. 
They left Sydney on August 5th, and the Erebus made 
great efforts to keep ahead of a merchant ship which 
left the harbour at the same time; but the usual fate 
of the leading ship of a squadron befell her and she had 
to shorten sail to wait for the Terror to come up, allow- 
ing the merchantman to sail away to the great mortifica- 
tion of the man-of-war. 
For three months the Erebus and Terror lay at anchor 
in the Bay of Islands on the northeast coast of the North 
Island of New Zealand. Much valuable collecting work 
was done on shore, but the officers were not allowed to 
make any long excursions from the ships on account of 
the growing discontent of the aboriginal Maoris with the 
ways of the white man. It is not our province to chroni- 
cle the holiday tasks of Antarctic explorers ; however, two 
incidents in the direct line of our narrative must be men- 
tioned — the meeting of two foreign men-of-war. One 
of these was the French corvette Heroine, whose com- 
mander gave Captain Ross a chart showing the dis- 
coveries of D’Urville, which he had not previously seen. 
The other was the American corvette Yorktown, through 
whose commander, Captain Aulick, the circumstance of 
