76 SCOTT'S (LAST EXPEDITION [JANUARY 
while to the north of the beach, where the sweep of the current 
was exceptionally strong, the various open water patches which 
had been present since August rapidly widened and coalesced, 
and in December the ice both east and west of the cape broke out 
with great rapidity. 
Our work, therefore, was now restricted to the immediate 
confines of the beach and the peninsula of Cape Adare, and this 
time was principally occupied in taking routine observations and 
adding to our biological collections. 
Amongst the specimens collected at this time were several 
fine sea leopards, which I was fortunate enough to shoot near 
the rookery. As most of them were shot in the water, we had 
some difficulty in securing the bodies, and it was here that our 
kayaks were very useful. 
We could carry these light and yet seaworthy craft down 
to the ice foot and launch them, and from them slip a noose 
round the body as it lay on the bottom in two or three fathoms 
of water. The line was then passed ashore and the united 
strength of the party just sufficed to land the quarry. 
After Christmas a permanent camp was established on Cape’ 
Adare and we were divided into three watches, one of which 
was always stationed on top of the cape to look out for the 
ship. During one of these watches Priestley and Dickason 
walked ten miles south along the cape, to find out whether, in the 
event of the ship not picking us up, it was possible for us to 
make our way south this way. They report the cape to reach 
a height of 4200 feet at its highest point, and from there they 
were able to get a good view of Warning Glacier and consider 
that it would be impossible to make an extended journey in this 
direction. 
On the morning of January 4 Browning sighted the ship 
and signalled us on the beach below by hoisting a flag as ar- 
ranged, and two days later all our gear was aboard and we 
were on our way to try our fortune two or three hundred miles 
farther south along the coast. 
January 8, 1912. P.M—This evening Pennell and I from 
the crow’s nest saw open water behind the heavy pack we had 
been working through all day. I had given up hope of being 
able to land at Evans Coves, and talking it over with Pennell 
had just decided to come down in the ship and pick up Debenham 
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