Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/150

 in praise of his country and people, and longed to return to his wigwam. "New Zealand, New Zealand, no place like New Zealand! "

At night we had another very grand display of the aurora australis. It first appeared in the southern heavens, and was more brilliant than any we had ever  witnessed. Its beautifully-tinted orange-colored waves would flash across one another in quick succession, and  anon seem to fold, one within another, like a fan.

February 23. A strong gale blowing from the southwest, with much sleet, hail, and snow.

INCLINED ICEBERG.

February 24, 25, 26. The gale still continued. It was very severe. We passed many icebergs, and had many narrow escapes from disaster. We left the last iceberg 53° south; at noon, by observation, 50° south. In taking a cast of the lead, we lost it with eight hundred fathoms of wire line. The sea was of such a clear, deep blue that a white object could be seen at the depth of  fifteen fathoms.

March 1. Made a sail two points on the weather bow, the first we had seen for sixty days, which made us think  we were in an inhabited quarter of the globe.

March 2. Thick, misty weather.