COOK IN THE ANTARCTIC 245 



The 'Belgica' ran westerly before it, almost under bare poles and edged 

 closer and closer toward the fragments of ice to the south, where the sea was 



easier. 



"The sky to the north and east was smoky and wavy, as if a number of huge 

 fires were there sending out gusts of smoke. On the southern sky there was a 

 bright pearly zone. This was an ice 'blink,' a reflection of the ice beyond our 

 horizon upon the particles of watery vapor suspended in the air. As night 

 came upon us it became necessary to choose between the forbidding blackness 

 of the north and the more cheerful, but less hospitable whiteness of the south. 

 With icebergs on every side, always in our course, coming as suddenly out of 

 the thickening darkness as if dropped from the skies, it was not wise or prudent 

 either to move out of it, or to rest in our position. To be more friendly with 

 the ice, or to rid ourselves entirely of its companionship was plainly our duty. 



"We decided to seek the harboring influence of the pack, as an experiment ; 

 to ride out the increasing fury of the tempest. The 'Belgica' was headed south- 

 ward and quickly ploughed through the icy seas, but the noise and commotion 

 which came to a climax every time she rose to a crest of a great swell were 

 terrible. The wind beat through the rigging like the blasts out of a blow-pipe, 

 the quivering mass swept the sky with the regularity of a pendulum; the 

 entire ship was covered with a sheet of ice. As the eye dropped over the side of 

 the ship, the sea glittered with the brightness of a winter's sky. The brightness 

 of the sea, with the sooty blackness of the heavens over it, formed a weird con- 

 trast never to be forgotten. Here and there were sparkling semi-luminous 

 pieces of ice which sprang from the darkness with meteoric swiftness, and were 

 again as quickly lost in the gathering blackness behind us. These fragments in- 

 creased in number and size as we pressed poleward; but the 'Belgica' would 

 strike and push them aside as a broom moves dust. 



"After a short but very exciting time, the pieces of ice became more numer- 

 ous and of larger dimensions, and the birds were so closely grouped that fur- 

 ther progress seemed impossible. The sea rolled more and more, in long, easy 

 swells, as we passed through the ice. This eased the ship and made mat- 

 ters more comforting to the sufferers from seasickness. 



"I must hasten to confess that about one half of us were thus afflicted at 

 this time, still we tried to be cheerful. I cannot imagine any scene more de- 

 spairing, though, than the 'Belgica,' as she pushed into the pack during this 

 black night. The noise was maddening. Every swell that drove against the 

 ship brought with it tons of ice which was thrown against the ribs with a thun- 



