ct, Correll fixed a pointed
collector--a miniature lightning-conductor--above the flagpole on the
summit of the roof. A wire was led through an insulator, so that the
stream of electricity could be subjected to experiment in the Hut. Here
a "brush" of blue light radiated outwards to a distance of one inch.
When a conductor was held close to it, a rattling volley of sparks
immediately crossed the interval and the air was pervaded with a strong
smell of ozone. Of course sparks were not always being emitted by the
collector, and it was important to determine the periods of activity.
To ensure this, Hurley devised an automatic arrangement, so that an
electric bell was set ringing whenever a current was passing; the
night-watchman would then note the fact in the log-book. However, the
bell responded so often and so vigorously that it was soon dismantled
for the benefit of sleepers. It was singular that the "brush discharge"
was sometimes most copious when the atmosphere was filled with very fine
drift, and not necessarily during dense drift.

After what has been said, it will be obvious that the drift-laden
hurricanes of the country were more than ordinarily formidable. They
scarcely seemed to provide a subject for poetic inspiration; still
the following effusion appeared by McLean, Editor of the 'Adelie
Blizzard':--

THE BLIZZARD

A snow-hush brooding o'er the grey rock-hills!
A wold of silence, ominous, that fills
The wide seascape of ice-roofed islands, rolls
To ether-zones that gird the frigid Poles!

Realm of purest alabaster-white,
Wreathed in a vast infinitude of light;
The royal orb swings to thy summer gaze
A glitt'ring azure world of crystal days.

The lorn bird-voices of an unseen land-
No hue of forest, gleam of ocean sand-
Rise in a ceaseless plaint of raucous din,
On northern tides the bergs come floating in.

The wind-sprites murmuring in hinter-snow-
The pent heart-throbbings of the wan plateau-
Wing through the pulsing spell thrown o'er the sea,
In wild and shrieking blizzard minstrelsy.

Swirl of the drift-cloud's shimm'ring sleet;
Race of the spray-smoke's hurtling sheet
Swelling trail of the streaming, sunbright foam,
Wafting sinuous brash to an ice-field home.

Eddy-wraiths o'er the splintered schist-
Torrent spume down the glacier hissed!
Throbbing surge of the ebbing seaward gust,
Rapi