LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT, ROSS. 
151 
been five days in their position, and the ice had accumulated 
seven or eight inches in thickness. At some distance from the 
ship there was a small stream of water in which an object was 
seen floating, which to all appearance from the vessel was a 
dead seal. Four hands were despatched with the Norway 
yawl, and they hauled the boat above a hundred yards over the 
ice, which kept bending all the time like a bow, but on 
arriving at the place where the dead seal was supposed to be 
found, they discovered to their great disappointment that it was 
a piece of ice in the small stream of water. 
This day Capt. Ross issued his orders that the temperature of 
the sea should not be taken any more. The temperature of the 
air was 15° below the freezing point. 
About nine in the evening the Aurora Borealis was seen very 
brilliant from south west to south east. It was first seen 
through a thick mist in the zenith, but as the mist passed away, 
the Aurora increased in brilliancy; the stars shone with great 
brightness, and not a cloud was to be seen. Towards midnight 
the aurora became less brilliant, and the sky was again obscured 
by mist; the wind was light from the northward, which shifted 
to south by west, moderate cloudy weather. 
The appearances of the aurora increased in number and bril¬ 
liancy as the season advanced. Sometimes it formed a splendid 
arch across the heavens, of a pale lambent flame, running with 
inconceivable velocity, and resembling the spiral motions of a 
serpent. This arched form of the aurora seems the most magnifi¬ 
cent of all its diversified appearances, the arches are sometimes 
single and sometimes, several concentric ones appear, but 
generally they rarely exceed five and are seldom limited to one. 
They are sometimes composed of a continuous stream of light, 
bright at the horizon and increasing in brilliancy at the zenith, 
and when the internal motion is rapid, and the light brilliant, 
the beams of which they are composed are discernible ; the 
internal motion appears as a sudden glow, not proceeding from 
any visible concentration of matter, but bursting forth in several 
parts of the arch, as if an ignition of combustible matter had 
taken place, and spreading itself ranidly towards each extremity. 
