LEAVING THE BAY 183 



stood out. After a lapse of three or four hours, it 

 Hfted quite suddenly, but astern of us the bank of fog 

 still stood like a wall; behind it the panorama, which 

 we knew would have looked wonderful in clear weather, 

 and which we should so gladly have let our eyes rest 

 upon as long as we could, was entirely concealed. 



The same course we had steered when coming in 

 a year before could safely be taken in the opposite 

 direction now we were going out. The outlines of the 

 bay had remained absolutely unchanged during the year 

 that had elapsed. Even the most projecting point of 

 the wall on the west side of the bay, Cape Man's Head, 

 stood serenely in its old place, and it looked as if it was 

 in no particular hurry to remove itself. It will probably 

 stay where it is for many a long day yet, for if any 

 movement of the ice mass is taking place at the inner 

 end of the bay, it is in any case very slight. Only in 

 one respect did the condition of things differ somewhat 

 this year from the preceding. Whereas in 1911 the 

 greater part of the bay was free of sea-ice as early as 

 January 14, in 1912 there was no opening until about 

 fourteen days later. The ice-sheet had stubbornly held 

 on until the fresh north-easterly breeze, that appeared 

 on the very day the southern party returned, had 

 rapidly provided a channel of open water. The break- 

 ing up of the ice could not possibly have taken place 

 at a more convenient moment; the breeze in question 

 saved us a great deal, both of time and trouble, as the 



