Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/186

108 the rich and beautiful scenery on both sides of the expansive and placid waters of the Derwent; perhaps making a more powerful impression on our minds from the contrast which they presented to the desolate land and turbulent ocean we had so recently left.

We anchored at five in the afternoon off Fort Mulgrave, when Captain Crozier came on board with satisfactory accounts from the Terror. I immediately proceeded to Government-house, and received the most kind welcome from our warm-hearted friends Sir John and Lady Franklin.

Anxious to get the permanent observatory at work as speedily as possible, I was rejoiced to learn from the Lieutenant-Governor that the materials of which it was to be constructed had been prepared several months, according to a plan sent from England, and ready to be put together as soon as the site should be determined upon; I therefore accompanied Sir John Franklin the next morning to examine several places which he thought likely; and having selected that which appeared to me the most unexceptionable for the purpose, a party of two hundred convicts were the same afternoon set to work to dig the foundation, prepare the blocks of freestone which were to form its base, and the solid pillars of the same materials, which were to be the supports for the instruments, and bring the prepared timbers from the government store.

The spot selected for the building is in the