1904] HEAVY PACK 283 



For the incidents of the next few days I turn to my diary 

 once more. On the night of the 25th I wrote : 



'Shortly after 8 p.m. it became thick with driving snow 

 storms from the east. We are still surrounded with bergs, and 

 thick weather is undesirable; however, the snowstorms are 

 like April showers, frequent but quickly over, and after they 

 burst upon us it is not long before we see our consort and the 

 bergs again. We are going half-speed for the night hoping 

 that to-morrow will afford us a brighter outlook.' 



^February 26. — I had scarcely lain down in my clothes 

 last night, thinking of a clear sea ahead, when the pack was 

 again reported. We pushed through several streams, hoping 

 to escape, but to no purpose. At 5.30 we found ourselves 

 completely embayed ; then the fog came down upon us, and 

 we were obliged to stop engines. Whilst waiting about we 

 took the opportunity to sound, and, to my surprise, got no 

 bottom with 1,000 fathoms of line out. It is evident that the 

 continental plateau slopes down very steeply off this coast. We 

 were just preparing to get a net over when the weather cleared 

 and we saw the land and clear water for some way towards it. 

 We decided to waste no time in pushing on in this direction, 

 but soon after noon our channel closed in again and we found 

 ourselves surrounded with heavy pack. The weather was now 

 quite clear, and from the crow's-nest one could get a good idea 

 of our surroundings. 



'From the high peaks of Mounts Minto and Adam the 

 mountains gradually descend towards the west and grow more 

 heavily glaciated; the coastline abreast of us seems very 

 indented and is marked with numerous dark outstanding cliffs 

 behind which the comparatively low mountains are entirely 

 snow- covered except where occasionally a sharp pyramidal 

 peak thrusts its summit through the white sheet. Away to 

 the west the land still descends, and all eminences are lost 

 under the snowy mantle which slopes down gradually to the 

 sea level at Cape North. A little ahead of us I could see the 

 black headlands of Smith's Inlet, but between us and it, and, 

 in fact, over the whole sea to the west, lay the broad expanse 



