158 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Feb. 



the right through 120° of arc naught can be seen but the plain 

 level white surface of the Great Barrier. As we mounted a 

 pass in the hills on our return to the ship, we could see these 

 things still more distinctly. 



'The ice south of the cape was evidently comparatively 

 thin sea-ice, and we could rejoice in beholding thousands of 

 seals scattered over the white surface — a promising sign that 

 we shall have no lack of these animals in the coming winter. 

 The ridge of hills under which we shelter is apparently a spur 

 extending from the southern slopes of Erebus. 



' To-night there have been most excited arguments. 

 Everybody seems to have been in a different direction, and 

 either, as one would imagine, has seen quite a different scene, 

 or else prefers to describe things in his own language. At 

 any rate, all agree in the insularity of Erebus and the final 

 decease of the Parry Mountains ; for the rest, there is nothing 

 that we shall not be able to investigate more definitely at a 

 later date.' 



As I have mentioned, in seeking our winter quarters on the 

 coast of Victoria Land so early in February we had been firmly 

 under the impression that the season was closing in, and that 

 the harbours and inlets would shortly be frozen over. With no 

 previous experience to guide us, our opinion could only be 

 based on the very severe and unseasonable conditions which 

 we had met with to the east. But now to our astonishment we 

 could see no sign of a speedy freezing of the bay : the summer 

 seemed to have taken a new lease, and for several weeks the 

 fast sea-ice continued to break silently and to pass quietly 

 away to the north in large floes. 



Meanwhile our situation was surrounded with thorny diffi- 

 culties. Although the ice broke farther afield, it refused to 

 move out of the small bay on which we had set our eyes, and 

 we were forced to cling to the outskirts of the bay with our 

 ice-anchors, in depths that were too great to admit of the 

 larger anchors being dropped to the bottom. The weather 

 changed frequently and rapidly, and often after the ship had 

 lain quietly for several hours a sudden squall or snowstorm 



