147 
OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
had hitherto been much greater than we could well afford. In the constant 182Q 
hope that each succeeding day would produce some amendment in the Febr. 
weather, we endeavoured contentedly to put up with the cold, which, how- 
ever, continued to be so intense in the cabin for several weeks after this, 
that it was impossible to sit there without being warmly wrapped up ; and 
it was not uncommon for us, at this period, to reverse the usual order of 
things, by throwing off our great coats when we went on deck to warm our- 
selves by exercise (the only mode we had of doing so), and immediately re- 
suming them on coming below. On many of these occasions I have seen a 
thermometer placed at our feet, standing the whole day under + 19°, and 
sometimes lower, while another, suspended in the upper part of the cabin 
would, at the same time, indicate 32° or 34°, but seldom higher than this. We 
had, about this time, two cases of lumbago and one of diarrhoea added to 
the sick list, which Mr. Edwards considered to have been brought on by the 
coldness of the decks below ; in one of these cases, some scorbutic symptoms 
subsequently appeared, which yielded without much difficulty to the usual 
remedies. Mr. Scallon had, before this time, completely recovered. The 
bed-places continuing very troublesome, from the accumulation of ice in 
them, several of the men were ordered to sleep in hammocks, which are 
much more warm and comfortable ; but they had been so long accustomed to 
the bed-places, that there was, in this respect, a good deal of prejudice to 
overcome among them. 
At half-past ten P.M. on the 19th, the Aurora Borealis was seen, as Sat. 19. 
described by Lieutenant Beechey, “ in bright coruscations, shooting prin- 
cipally from the S.b.W. quarter across the zenith to N.N.E., and partially 
in every part of the heavens. The light, when most vivid, was of a pale 
yellow, at other times white, excepting to the southward, in which direction 
a dull red tinge was now and then perceptible. The coruscations had a 
tremulous waving motion, and most of them were crooked towards the E.N.E. 
The fresh gale which blew at the time from the N.N.E., appeared to have 
no effect on the Aurora, which, as before observed, streamed directly to 
windward, and this with great velocity. The brighter part of this meteor 
dimmed whatever stars it passed over, even those of the first magnitude ; 
and those of the second and third magnitude, so much as to render them 
scarcely visible. The wind blew too strong for the electrometer to be used, 
but Rater’s compass was not in the slightest degree affected. The whole of 
the phenomenon disappeared in about three quarters of an hour.” 
