Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/188

110 favourable circumstances, every facility and assistance being most cordially afforded to us by the gentlemen at the head of the various public offices; and I feel under especial obligations to the Assistant Commissary-general, George Lean, Esq., for his ready compliance with every demand made upon his department, the immediate removal of every difficulty, and the personal interest and trouble he took to obtain for us the unusually large supplies we required, and all of them of the very best kind, to our very great comfort, as well as real benefit to the service.

Under the daily personal superintendence of Sir John Franklin, the zealous co-operation of Major Kelsall, of the Royal Engineers, and the able and indefatigable exertions of Mr. Howe, the clerk of the works, the building of the Observatory proceeded most rapidly, and the whole was completed and roofed in, the stone pillars fixed upon the solid sandstone rock, the instruments placed on them, and all their delicate adjustments fulfilled, a few hours before the term-day observations of the 27th of August were to be commenced. Thus the erection of this Observatory was accomplished in the brief period of nine days,—an instance of what may be done where the hearts and energies of all are united to promote the common object of their endeavours. I should be doing injustice to my own feelings were I to neglect to express my admiration of the cheerful enthusiasm which the convicts employed in the building