4 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Oct. 



able to make their most advanced camp, ready to proceed 

 over the bare rocks towards the rookery. The nth proved a 

 beautifully calm, bright day, and Royds, having injured his 

 ankle, deputed the task of reaching the ' Record ' to Skelton. 

 The latter left the camp at noon with Evans, and by 6 p.m. 

 returned, having accomplished his errand ; in the bright, clear 

 afternoon he had little difficulty in finding the spot, and came 

 to the conclusion that they must have been within a very short 

 distance of it in their autumn wanderings. 



On the 1 2th Skelton set out again with two companions, 

 this time intent on photographing the immense ice disturbance 

 caused by the barrier pushing around the land. After taking 

 several photographs he returned, and the homeward route 

 brought him close to the edge of the Crozier cliffs, where they 

 rise with magnificent grandeur and form a frowning precipice 

 more than 8oo feet sheer above the sea ; from this point of 

 vantage he looked down directly on the barrier edge and into 

 the small bay which breaks its outline near the land. Whilst 

 he was admiring the beauty of the scene, his quick eye caught 

 sight of numerous small dots on the sea-ice far below ; it was 

 not long before he decided that they must be Emperor pen- 

 guins. He asked himself what they could be doing here in 

 such numbers, and wondered if it were possible that at last the 

 breeding-place of these mysterious birds had been discovered 

 ■ — it seemed almost too good to be true. Assurance must wait 

 for some future occasion, and in the meanwhile he returned to 

 the camp in no small state of excitement. 



To-morrow the mystery must be cleared up ; but to-morrow 

 brought the wind, and not a yard from their tents could the 

 party stir. This was the 13th. On the 14th the weather 

 proved equally bad, save for a short lull, when they were able 

 to prepare a hot meal ; directly afterwards, the blizzard swept 

 down on them again and continued without intermission 

 throughout the 15th, i6th, and 17th. 



Before the gale they had built elaborate protecting snow 

 walls to windward of the tents, and these almost proved their 

 undoing; for the never-ceasing drift collected deeper and 



