1 8 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [December 



formidable as we proceeded south, the pack grew thicker. I 

 noticed large floes of comparatively thin ice very sodden and 

 easily split; these are similar to some we went through in the 

 Discovery, but tougher by a month. 



At three we stopped and shot four crab-eater seals; to-night 

 we had the livers for dinner — they were excellent. 



To-night we are in very close pack — it is doubtful if it is 

 worth pushing on, but an arch of clear sky which has shown to 

 the southward all day makes me think that there must be clearer 

 water in that direction; perhaps only some 20 miles away — but 

 20 miles is much under present conditions. As I came below to 

 bed at 1 1 P.M. Bruce was slogging away, making fair progress, 

 but now and again brought up altogether. I noticed the ice was 

 becoming much smoother and thinner, with occasional signs of 

 pressure, between which the ice was very thin. 



' We had been very carefully into all the evidence of former 

 voyages to pick the best meridian to go south on, and I thought 

 and still think that the evidence points to the 178 W. as the 

 best. We entered the pack more or less on this meridian, and 

 have been rewarded by encountering worse conditions than any 

 ship has had before. Worse, in fact, than I imagined would 

 have been possible on any other meridian of those from which 

 we could have chosen. 



' To understand the difficulty of the position you must appre- 

 ciate what the pack is and how little is known of its movements. 



' The pack in this part of the world consists ( i ) of the ice 

 which has formed over the sea on the fringe of the Antarctic 

 continent during the last winter; (2) of very heavy old ice floes 

 which have broken out of bays and inlets during the previous 

 summer, but have not had time to get north before the winter 

 set in; (3) of comparatively heavy ice formed over the Ross 

 Sea early in the last winter; and (4) of comparatively thin ice 

 which has formed over parts of the Ross Sea in middle or towards 

 the end of the last winter. 



' Undoubtedly throughout the winter all Ice-sheets move and 

 twist, tear apart and press up into ridges, and thousands of bergs 

 charge through these sheets, raising hummocks and lines of pres- 

 sure and mixing things up; then of course where such rents are 

 made in the winter the sea freezes again, forming a newer and 

 thinner sheet. 



