PARHELIA. 
45 
printed on the showers, it was distinct and even 
brilliant; but in the clear atmosphere towards the 
zenith, it was scarcely perceptible. The colours 
were not very definite : yellow, however, was ob¬ 
served to be on the exterior, and the darker co¬ 
lours towards the centre of the circle. The par¬ 
helia were elongate vertically. In fact, they 
seemed as if the two opposite outward edges of 
the corona, at the same elevation as the sun, were 
brilliantly illuminated, they consequently formed 
part of an arch; but the oblong speck in the mid¬ 
dle was the most brilliant. The frost-rime was 
at this time so thick, as to render these appear¬ 
ances, from the deck, almost invisible. 
As it blew hard all night, and the weather was 
intensely thick with frost-rime, it was not with¬ 
out unremitting watchfulness, and an active ma¬ 
nagement of the sails, that the ship was kept 
clear of the ice, which surrounded us in innume¬ 
rable masses. Some of these were of the floe 
kind, having a medial breadth of two or three 
miles. All the ice was in motion, and its rela¬ 
tive position was perpetually changing, and en¬ 
dangering us. 
The frost-rime becoming a little attenuated, 
next morning, I found that a body of drift-ice 
had descended from the north, in such a way, as 
to inclose us in a basin of water, scarcely a mile 
