60 SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION [FEBRUARY 
took a lot of ice water, washing away the bulwarks we had re- 
paired since the previous gale. 
The coal question was becoming serious; if this went on 
much longer it looked as if we should not be able to land, as 
Pennell had to keep enough coal to get back to New Zealand. 
On the evening of the 15th the wind eased a little, and by 
IO A.M. on the 16th we raised steam and shaped course for Cape 
Adare, which was now 110 miles to the S.W. It came on to 
blow hard again from the S.E. in the afternoon, but we were 
able nearly to lay our course under lower topsails; the snow 
squalls were very thick, but luckily not much ice was sighted. 
Late in the afternoon the weather cleared and we sighted the 
mountainous coast of Victoria Land. During the night we got 
among a lot of weathered bergs and loose pack, which had the 
effect of smoothing the sea. 
At 4 A.M. on the 17th we were within about 2 miles of the 
coast just east of Smith’s Inlet. 
The land here was heavily glaciated, hardly a rock showing, 
except some high cliffs and the Lyall Islands to the westward. 
Heavy pack lay to the west of us, so we had to work along 
to the eastward, where the sea was fairly clear of ice. 
Some large floes lay close in under the cliffs, grinding up 
against them in the heavy swell that was running. I was very 
much disappointed at seeing no piedmont to work along on the 
western sledge journey. ‘The cliffs were several hundred feet 
high except where the glaciers ran down, the front of these being 
from 50 to 180 feet high. 
We worked along to the eastward, keeping as close as we 
could, and keeping a good lookout for a possible landing. 
The scenery was magnificent. In the afternoon we entered 
Robertson Bay and found we had a strong tide with us, which 
was fortunate as the wind had freshened again from the S.S.E. 
The scenery here was even wilder, the Admiralty Range tower- 
ing over our heads and so steep that, except in the valleys, no 
snow or ice was able to lodge, and bare rocks showed every- 
where. 
Large glaciers filled all the valleys, but the gradient was 
so steep that they were heavily crevassed from top to bottom. 
By 5 o'clock we were off the Dugdale Glacier, which runs 
out in three long tongues, in places only 10 feet high. 
