Page:Castaway on the Auckland Isles (IA castawayonauckla01musg).pdf/128

112 Sunday, August 20.—Calm all this day. First thing in the morning I attended to the compasses, one of which I am very well satisfied with, as it shows little or no deviation, and I feel that we may trust to it; the others are very much out. In the morning we went on shore, and a dog which we have caught a penguin. They also went in the boat, and in a very short time caught three dozen beautiful fish (trumpeters). Port Pegasus is one of the finest harbours I have ever been in, and there is abundance of heavy timber all over its shores. If the land be good, which the abundance and verdure of its vegetation seem to indicate, it must, in the course of a few years, become a port of considerable importance. After dinner we got the anchor up and pulled the cutter outside, in hope of finding a breeze, but we were disappointed; there was not a breath of air, so we pulled in again, and in the evening anchored about six miles to the southward of where we lay last night. The barometer keeps high, 30⋅20.

Monday, August 21, 1865.—First part calm. At 9 a light air came from the northward, and we at once got under weigh, and came out by the southernmost entrance, and got a light N.E. breeze, which, by sundown, had run us to about eight miles south of the South Cape, where it died away, and at 7  came out from S.W. very light, just enough to give the vessel steerage way. This is very disheartening; I almost begin to doubt whether we shall ever accomplish this trip or not. Here is an instance of the uncertainty of the weather in these regions. All day the weather and barometer bore every indication of easterly wind, and a more easterly-looking sunset I never saw; and now, in one hour and a half, we have the wind from the direct opposite point, and all the indications of one hour and a half ago are entirely reversed. All the clouds have settled down to the N.E., and the sky is now clear, with the exception of a low, thick, black, arched bank of clouds, which are slowly, but surely, rising from S.W.; but the