We cleared this snow away from tlio surface, of the ice for our cam]) in the bay, anrl I am 

 furthermore certain, from the lack of resistance that my ski-sticks met \\itli, and the fact th.-it the 

 points rested time and time again on the solid sen ice. that the middle of the bav at aiiv rate is 

 devoid of hardened drifts. The snow is of the lar.ue-gra.ined type which is only found in the 

 winter in the Antarctic as the result of prolonged ablation in an undisturbed position, when some 

 grains disappear and a part of the moisture given otT from them is condensed on others and thus 

 increase them in size. I have no doubt that at the back of the bay local drifts \\ itli a somewhat 

 soft crust will be found which have been formed by the north-west erk and valley gusts bh>\\ in.. 

 the fresh fallen snow off the hills and the glaciers. In fact, at a later date we saw these very 

 drifts forming in a bay this side of Cape Barrow and Wood, which we called the Bay of Pressure. 

 As we followed the coast along we found that in all the bays the conditions as regards the surface 

 snow were much the same, with a constant increase in the thickness of the SIK>\\ deposits as we. went 

 further N. until in the Bay of Pressure the covering of soft snow over the pressure which gave its 

 name to the bay ranged between 18 inches and 3 feet in thickness. 



The permanence of this lee is further guaranteed by the occurrence of loose snow on all the 

 projecting points of the cliffs and of large mounds of loose snow like the sand in an hour-glass 

 which have been formed by small snowslides of the snow on the cliffs above them. These latter, 

 as I have described in my diary, I saw actually in process of formation during the north-westerly 

 gusts which were blowing intermittently in the bays and near the points while a southerly was 

 raging outside in the centre and to the E. of Robertson Bay. 



The presence, for the first time in my recollection, of ice caps low down on the foothills which 

 are themselves capped by a thick layer of neve may possibly lie due to the greater amount of 

 snowfall in the mountains as we proceed further N., but though this is quite probable, and we have 

 not evidence enough to say whether it is to be considered as likely or not, yet what little experience 

 we have suggests rather the other way, for the snowfall, as will be seen from the comparisons of 

 the meteorological reports, was greater on the E. than on the W. side of the bay while we were in a 

 position to make notes on both sides. 



It is at least certain that nothing at all can be added to this neve if the gales do rage 

 in the W. with anything like the constancy and force with which they blow at Cape Adare. 



Outside this area of calm there is a transition area where the snowdrifts increase in crustiness 

 and hardness as the coast recedes, until finally that portion of the bay is reached which is wind- 

 swept, except where local drifts are to be seen extending S.E. and jST.W. to windward and leeward 

 of the more prominent pressure ridges. This latter snow is distinguished from that further inshore 

 by a damp appearance and by a salt taste due to its having swept across large stretches of bare 

 sea ice before it has finally come to rest behind or in front of the prominence which has sheltered it. 



Wherever large stretches of sea ice occur within this wind-swept area that are devoid of 

 pressure ridges and disturbances they have been swept until they are quite bare or, at the best, 

 covered only with a little snow in flecks and ripples where the brine from between the crystals is 

 sufficiently effective to hold a certain amount of snow through the winds. 



These bare patches are very difficult to distinguish from the areas of recently formed ice 

 which have come into being since the opening and re-freezing of the leads which were due to the 

 winter gales, and which we were tolerably familiar with off Cape Adare. One guide, which was 

 almost infallible when it was possible to find a crack, was given by the height to which the water 

 had risen in the crack before the latter re-froze, and in most of the pans we passed which were of 

 considerable extent these cracks had remained open to a depth of a foot or thereabouts. Such 

 being the case, the ice must be of considerable thickness, and I am of opinion that the disturbances 

 have not, at any rate during the months since .May, extended further to the S. than the long break 

 stretching towards Cape Wood which alarmed us so much in August. 



It is rather curious that I noticed more cracks in the sea ice during the trip fn>m 

 Warning Glacier across Robertson Bay to the Dugdale Ulacier Tongue than I did in the whole 

 of the remainder of the journey along the coast, where the open or recent cracks seem to be 

 confined to tide cracks across the bays and old pressure ridges to the prominent bergs. 



This is rather a digression from meteorology, but, after all, it has some bearing on the subject 

 that I had been discussing, namely, the differences between the ice to the W. and Iv of Robertson 

 Bay, and which differences are intimately connected with meteorological conditions. 



From the first moment that we passed the point of Relay Bay and sledged along inshore we 

 began to notice signs of wind on the E. side of the bay, and off ami on these signs were with us 

 the whole time. 



GDI 



1 X 2 



