AT THE BARRIER EDGE 231 



a pipe of cut plug to follow. The bill of fare was iden- 

 tically the same every day, perhaps a fault in the eyes 

 of many; variety of diet is supposed to be the thing. 

 Hang variety, say I; appetite is what matters. To a 

 man who is really hungry it is a very subordinate 

 matter what he shall eat; the main thing is to have 

 something to satisfy his hunger. 



After going north for seven days, we found that 

 according to observations and sledge-meter we ought 

 to be in the neighbourhood of the sea. This was 

 correct. My diary for November 23 reads : 



*' To-day we were to see something besides sky and 

 snow. An hour after breaking camp this morning two 

 snowy petrels came sailing over us; a little while later 

 a couple of skua gulls. We welcomed them as the first 

 living creatures we had seen since leaving winter-quar- 

 ters. The constantly increasing * water-sky ' to the 

 north had long ago warned us that we were approach- 

 ing the sea ; the presence of the birds told us it was not 

 far off. The skua gulls settled very near us, and the 

 dogs, no doubt taking them for baby seals, were of 

 course ready to break the line of march, and go off 

 hunting, but their keenness soon passed when they 

 discovered that the game had wings. 



" The edge of the Barrier was difficult to see, and, 

 profiting by previous experience of how easy it is to go 

 down when the light is bad, we felt our way forward 

 step by step. At four o'clock we thought we could see 



