Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/244

214 easterly course. Some faint coruscations of the Aurora Australis were seen near the zenith at 1 for only a few minutes.

It blew a moderate breeze from the south eastward, and the day was fine; the sun occasionally appeared, but was more generally obscured by clouds and thick snow showers. The sea was remarked to have assumed its oceanic light blue colour, from which we inferred that the ferruginous animalculæ, which give a dirty brownish tint to the waters of the southern ocean, prefer the temperature which obtains in the vicinity of the pack; for here, as in the arctic regions, our approach to any great body of ice was invariably indicated by the change of colour of the sea. Large flocks of the blue petrel and Cape pigeons were seen, and the cry of the penguin was frequently heard.

It was calm during the night, and until 7, when. a breeze sprang up from the northward, and the forenoon being fine, we all greatly enjoyed the rise of temperature of the air from 23° to 36° which had occurred in less than two days, whilst that of the surface of the sea had risen to 33°.

At noon our latitude was 67° 28′ S., longitude 174° 27′ W.; the magnetic dip 82°.18′, and the variation 26° E.: in the afternoon we tried for, but did not obtain, soundings with 600 fathoms; the temperature at that depth was 38°; at 450 fathoms, 37°.5; at 300 fathoms, 35°.5; and at 150 fathoms, 34°.2: the specific gravity of the surface water