306 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. 3d, when the barometer had fallen as low as 29.14<. In the gale which we 
experienced off Cape Farewell in 1818, the barometer was also much lower 
for two days after it had ceased to blow than while it lasted. During the 
time that we were in the Polar Sea, and especially while we were frozen up in 
Winter Harbour, we also remarked that a gale was accompanied, rather than 
preceded, by a fall of the mercury in the barometer; in moderate weather, 
it almost invariably rose with northerly and westerly winds, and fell with 
those from the south and east. 
Mon. 2. On the 2d, of October, in scudding before the wind, under the main-top- 
sail, a heavy sea struck the Hecla on the larboard quarter, rendering it 
necessary to press her forward under more canvass, by which we lost sight 
of the Griper in the course of the morning. As soon as the weather mode- 
rated, we hove-to for her ; but, as she did not make her appearance, having, 
as we afterwards learned, been obliged to lie-to during the height of the gale, 
we continued our course out of the Straits, and did not again meet with the 
Griper till our return to England. After ten P.M. this night, the Aurora 
Borealis appeared at times in almost every part of the heavens, but most con- 
stantly in the southern quarter. It consisted of no distinct figure, either arch or 
pencils, but of a generally diffused white light, illuminating the atmosphere at 
times quite as much as the moon when six or seven days old. This pheno- 
menon occurred almost every night during our passage across the Atlantic, 
rendering them extremely light, even when the weather was cloudy, just in 
the same manner that the moon does although her disk is not visible. When 
the weather was clear, it most frequently resembled the light of that luminary 
when issuing from behind a dark cloud. 
Tues. 3. On the 3d we observed a more brilliant display than usual of this pheno- 
menon. It appeared at nine P.M. in various parts of the heavens, from E.N.E., 
round by south, to W. b. N., principally consisting at first of many detached 
luminous patches like clouds, irregularly scattered about, and shifting fre- 
quently, though not very rapidly, from place to place. From the W. b. N. 
over to the S.S.E., and passing a few degrees to the southward of the zenith, 
there soon appeared a broad band of light, having a tendency to arch ; and the 
light of which this consisted appeared to come from the west towards the east. 
In the E.N.E. quarter, there was a luminous appearance distinct from the rest, 
at about 15° or 20° of altitude, exactly resembling the light of the moon behind 
a dusky cloud, except that at times vivid coruscations shot upwards from it 
towards the zenith. At a quarter past ten the phenomenon suddenly became 
