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regions, one unbroken, or nearly unbroken, sheet of ice continues to
extend. In the first few degrees of this its progress, its surface is
very sensibly flattened, farther on depressed into a plane, and finally,
becoming not a little concave, it terminates, at the Pole itself, in a
circular centre, sharply defined, whose apparent diameter subtended at
the balloon an angle of about sixty-five seconds, and whose dusky hue,
varying in intensity, was, at all times, darker than any other spot upon
the visible hemisphere, and occasionally deepened into the most
absolute and impenetrable blackness. Farther than this, little could
be ascertained. By twelve o'clock the circular centre had materially
decreased in circumference, and by seven P.M. I lost sight of it
entirely; the balloon passing over the western limb of the ice, and
floating away rapidly in the direction of the equator.
"April 8th. Found a sensible diminution in the earth's apparent
diameter, besides a material alteration in its general color and
appearance. The whole visible area partook in different degrees of a
tint of pale yellow, and in some portions had acquired a brilliancy even
painful to the eye. My view downward was also considerably impeded by
the dense atmosphere in the vicinity of the surface being loaded with
clouds, between whose masses I could only now and then obtain a glimpse
of the earth itself. This difficulty of direct vision had troubled me
more or less for the last forty-eight hours; but my present enormous
elevation brought closer together, as it were, the floating bodies of
vapor, and the inconvenience became, of course, more and more palpable
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