I30 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Mar. 



was little more than a mile from us. We ran out to see this 

 pleasing prospect, but only to find that the report was based 

 on a curious mirage effect, and that it would have been nearer 

 the mark to have given four miles instead of one as the distance 

 of the open sea. Since this incident there has been no change ; 

 heavy pack has again been seen to the north, and it is evident 

 that there is no swell entering the strait. 



' The weather is a great deal worse than it was last year ; 

 we have had much more wind and much lower temperatures ; 

 the thermometer has not been above zero since the 6th, but 

 possibly this is due to the absence of open water about us. 

 We were frozen in last year on the 24th, but the old ice had 

 ceased to break away some time before that, and so I fear the 

 chance of more ice going out now is very small. 



' But meanwhile we have not been idle ; we have deter- 

 mined to stick rigidly to our fresh-meat routine throughout the 

 winter, and whenever the weather has permitted, our seal-killing 

 parties have been away on their murderous errand. Already 

 the snow-trench larder contains 116 frozen carcases. We have 

 now thirty-seven mouths to feed, and an average seal lasts 

 about a day and a half ; later, when appetites fall off, it ought 

 to run to two or two and a half days, so that we shall be safe 

 in allowing an average of two days per seal. 



' Our sportsmen, too, have been adding to our food supply, 

 and have succeeded in killing over five hundred skuas ; one 

 would not have thought there were so many to be killed. 

 These birds will form a good change to the regulation seal. 

 Our ideas and customs have certainly changed : last year we 

 regarded the skua as an unclean, carrion-feeding bird. It was 

 Skelton who first discovered the error of our ways. Whilst 

 sledging to the west he caught one in a noose, and promptly 

 put it into the pot ; the result was so satisfactory that the skua 

 has figured largely on our menu ever since. In summer each 

 appetite demands its whole skua, but in winter a single bird 

 ought to do for two people ; the legs and wings are skinny, but 

 the breast is full and plump. Like all polar animals it is 

 protected with blubber, and unusual precautions have to be 



