Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/297

] belief that we had reached as high a south latitude as had ever before been attained, and with every prospect of being permitted to extend our researches very much further. In spite of all our exertions we found the ships unable to contend against the combined influence of the southerly wind and northerly current, which still carried us back to the northward, and when it fell calm in the afternoon, we could do nothing but watch the gradually retrograde motion of the ships.

It was the most beautiful night we had seen in these latitudes, the sky perfectly clear and serene. At midnight, when the sun was skimming along the southern horizon at an altitude of about two degrees, the sky over head was remarked to be of a most intense indigo blue, becoming paler in proportion to the distance from the zenith.

We got soundings in three hundred fathoms, and the dredge being again put over, and allowed to trail along the bottom for two or three hours, brought up many animals, some corallines, and a quantity of sand, mud, and small stones. Amongst them we found several entirely new forms of creatures, of which accurate drawings were taken by Dr. Hooker, which, together with their descriptions, are now in course of publication, and constitute one of the more interesting features of our researches. It is well known that marine invertebrate animals are more susceptible of change of temperature than land animals; indeed they may be isothermally arranged with great accuracy. It