It is extraordinary that we could
never succeed in killing or catching one of these animals, though
we were for months almost constantly endeavouring to do so.
On the 1st and 2d of February the weather was rather hazy, so that
the sun could not have been seen had it been above the horizon;
but the 3d was a beautifully clear and calm day. At eight A.M. a
cross, consisting of the usual vertical and horizontal rays, was
seen about the moon. At twenty minutes before apparent noon, the
sun was seen from the Hecla's main-top, at the height of fifty-one
feet above the sea, being the first time that this luminary had
been visible to us since the 11th of November, a period of
eighty-four days, being twelve days less than the time of its
remaining actually beneath the horizon, independently of the
effects of atmospherical refraction. On ascending the main-top, I
found the sun to be plainly visible over the land to the south;
but at noon there was a dusky sort of cloud hanging about the
horizon, which prevented our seeing anything like a defined limb,
so as to measure or estimate its altitude correctly.
At noon on the 7th we had the first clear view of the sun which we
had yet enjoyed since its reappearance above our horizon, and an
indistinct parhelion, or mock sun, slightly prismatic, was seen on
the eastern side of it, at the distance of 22 deg.
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