320 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' 



The reduction of barometric pressures will doubtless throw 

 light on the question, however. Another drawback common 

 to all polar expeditions is the impossibility of measuring 

 the snowfall on account of surface drift, &c. There is 

 no form of snow-gauge that can be used with success. 

 One effort was made to ascertain the precipitation in our 

 region, which, although it was not exact, is perhaps worth 

 recording. When the ice about Cape Armitage was a year 

 old it occurred to me that we might get a rough idea of the 

 net annual deposit by measuring the depth of snow at various 

 points on its surface. This was done with difficulty, owing to 

 the sastrugt and varying nature of the snow, but I calculated 

 that a rough average of the results would represent between 

 four and five inches of hard packed snow. Rough as it is, 

 this figure is something of a guide, for it means that the surface 

 of the Barrier is annually augmented by about this amount. 

 It may be added that excavations into the surface of the 

 Barrier invariably revealed a succession of crusts at irregular 

 intervals, the amount of snow between being usually in fair 

 agreement with the deposit mentioned. 



In speaking of the deposit on the lower level of the Barrier, 

 a word may be added concerning that on the lofty plateau of 

 Victoria Land. It may be remembered that in many parts 

 of this plain we found the surface covered with a shining crust 

 traversed by innumerable transverse cracks which gave it a 

 scaly appearance, such as may be seen in the mud of a dried 

 pond. I thought at the time that this could be no recent 

 formation, but it was only much later that the possible meaning 

 of it occurred to me— namely, that there was no net deposit of 

 snow on this plateau ; or, in other words, that the climatic 

 conditions were such that the evaporation equalled or exceeded 

 the deposition. 



The meteorological condition which puzzled us most was 

 the warm southerly blizzard to which I have repeatedly referred, 

 and it must be admitted that the fact of our highest tempera- 

 tures coming with a southerly wind is a very extraordinary one. 

 On this, as on other matters, however, it is premature to 



