Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/291

] who may have been similarly circumstanced; and the "holidays," as they were called, which their arrival and cordial and agreeable intercourse occasioned, were thoroughly enjoyed by us all.

The weather was unsettled and boisterous during their stay, and its inclemency was felt more severely by them, from their having so recently left the delightful climate and beautiful scenery of Rio de Janeiro, for the bleak snow-covered shores of the Falkland Islands.

The Carysfort sailed for the Pacific on the morning of the 7th July, giving us three hearty cheers at parting, which we as cordially returned.

With the new bowsprit, stores, and provisions, which the commodore had taken so much pains to provide for us, we felt completely set up, and that we should now be enabled to resume our explorations of the Southern Regions in as efficient a condition in every respect as on the day of our departure from England.

The refitment of the ships proceeded steadily and uninterruptedly; and by the end of the month of July they were again in perfect order and ready for sea. But as our magnetic experiments could not be completed until the end of August or beginning of September, and in order to give our people healthful exercise and useful occupation, I directed them to be employed building a wall seven feet thick, and as many high, round the spot which had been hitherto used as a burial-ground, but which was at present without any enclosure; and the