74 SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION [Octoper 
Things looked serious, for the season was becoming advanced 
and the summer thaw approaching, while we had to advance 
along a straight coast line with steep cliffs as far as we could 
see. After talking over the situation with Priestley we decided 
that unless we could find thicker ice near the land we should 
have to turn, as this ice might break up any time. 
It was a bitter disappointment, for I had expected at least 
to be able to get beyond Cape North this way. It came on to 
blow with drift in the night, but fortunately the wind did not 
last, and to our delight on turning out we found the sun breaking 
through. 
After breakfast, taking ski and a spade, I went in towards 
the land, trying a lot of places and always finding thin sodden ice; 
in places the under layers of snow were so wet and soft it seemed 
as though the ice was depressed below the surface of the sea. 
After taking a round of angles we returned, making Siren 
Bay the same night. On our way back we sounded the ice 
several times, finding thin ice until we reached the tide crack 
at the mouth of the bay. 
October 9 and 10.—We went north along the coast on ski, 
collecting and examining the face of the glacier, but we found 
no place where it was possible to climb up. The snow along 
the coast was very soft and deep, making progress difficult even 
on ski. We saw a good number of snow and Antarctic petrels 
circling about the cliffs as if they nested here. 
October 11.—The temperature when we turned out was 
— 22°8° F. 
Our only chance of doing anything now was to try and 
get up on one of the glaciers, and although we had seen no 
accessible place on our outward march, we decided to follow 
round each bay and examine the coast closely. To-day we re- 
turned to Birthday Point. 
October 12.—A fine morning; I got a round of angles while 
Priestley went round the bay on ski. We saw a seal near the 
camp which had just given birth. 
Our noses are frostbitten and sunburnt and are a curious 
sight. They have swollen very much; Abbott’s is the worst, 
being one great blister. I had an attack of snow blindness in 
the afternoon. 
October 13.—Temperature —1°F., weather thick, with 
