118 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1819. on from the northward, which continued to blow, and the thermometer 
gradually to rise, till the latter had reached —21° at midnight. This was 
one of a great many instances which occurred during the winter, of an in- 
crease of wind, from whatever quarter, being accompanied by a simultaneous 
rise in the thermometer. The gale continued strong for the greater part of 
the two following days, with a tremendous snow-drift, which kept us all on 
board till the afternoon of the 23d. In the mean time, another play had been 
prepared, and our second performance, to which the crews had been anxiously 
looking forward, took place on the evening of the 24th. 
The temperature of the ships’ holds, at this time, was generally from 
27° to 34°, the aftermost being always the warmest, and a considerable 
quantity of the beer was found frozen in the casks. The thermometer seldom 
rose higher than 40° on the lower deck, throughout the day. On the 26th in 
Sund.28. the morning, some vivid coruscations of the Aurora Borealis were observed 
from S. to N.W.,- commencing at 4° or 5° of altitude, and streaming towards 
the zenith. 
Early in the afternoon of the 20th, Captain Sabine observed a small meteor 
fall to the ground in the W. ])y N., not apparently more than a mile distant. 
It fell slowly, with a faint white light, which increased considerably as it 
approached the earth. When first seen, its height was about 8° or 10°, and 
the descent appeared perpendicular, or nearly so. The atmosphere at this 
time was remarkably clear. Soon after the moon rose this afternoon, it was 
curiously deformed by refraction, the lower edges of its disk appearing in- 
dented with deep notches, and at other times seeming to be cut olf square at 
the bottom. A single ray, or rather a column of light, of the same diameter 
as the moon, was also observed to descend from it to the top of the hill, 
29 & 30. like a pillar supporting it. . On this and the two following nights, we were 
occupied from five to seven hours in taking lunar distances in the open air, 
the thermometer being from — 34° to — 36°. This we did without any ma- 
terial inconvenience, as long as the weather continued calm or nearly so ; but 
with a moderate breeze it soon became too painful to handle the screws of 
the sextant. The ditficulty of making observations in this climate is not, 
however, confined to the sensation of cold produced by handling the instru- 
ments, or by standing still for several hours together at so low a temperature ; 
hut it is also necessary to hold the breath very carefully during the time of 
making the observation ; for if the least vapour be suffered to touch the in- 
strument, it is immediately converted into a coat of ice, which dims 
