FESTIVITIES 191 



of bold promontories, and Cape Adare is no exception 

 in this respect; it is well known as a centre of bad 

 weather. Nor did we slip by without getting a taste 

 of this; but it could not have been more welcome, as 

 it happened that the wind was going the same way as 

 ourselves. Two days of fresh south-east wind took us 

 comparatively quickly past the Balleny Islands, and on 

 February 9 we could congratulate ourselves on being 

 well out of the south frigid zone. It was with joy that 

 we had crossed the Antarctic Circle over a year ago, 

 going south; perhaps we rejoiced no less at crossing it 

 this time in the opposite direction. 



In the bustle of getting away from our winter- 

 quarters there had been no time for any celebration 

 of the fortunate reunion of the land and sea parties. 

 As this occasion for festivity had been let slip, we had 

 to look out for another, and we agreed that the day 

 of our passage from the frigid to the temperate zone 

 afforded a very good excuse. The pre-arranged part 

 of the programme was extremely simple: an extra cup 

 of coffee, duly accompanied by punch and cigars, and 

 some music on the gramophone. Our worthy gramo- 

 phone could not offer anything that had the interest of 

 novelty to us nine who had wintered at Framheim: we 

 knew the whole repertoire pretty well by heart; but 

 the well-known melodies awakened memories of many 

 a pleasant Saturday evening around the toddy table in 

 our cosy winter home down at the head of the Bay of 



