60 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION {January 



many headlands; it is not easy to say which of these is the 

 Cape. 



The same grim unattainable ice-clad coast line extends con- 

 tinuously from the Cape Crozier Rookery to Cape Bird. West 

 of C. Bird there is a very extensive expanse of land, and on it 

 one larger and several small penguin rookeries. 



On the uniform dark reddish brown of the land can be 

 seen numerous grey spots; these are erratic boulders of granite. 

 Through glasses one could be seen perched on a peak at least 

 1300 feet above the sea. 



Another group of killer whales were idly diving off the 

 penguin rookery; an old one with a very high straight dorsal 

 fin and several youngsters. We watched a small party of pen- 

 guins leaping through the water towards their enemies. It 

 seemed impossible that they should have failed to see the sinister 

 fins during their frequent jumps into the air, yet they seemed to 

 take no notice whatever stranger still, the penguins must have 

 actually crossed the whales, yet there was no commotion what- 

 ever, and presently the small birds could be seen leaping away 

 on the other side. One can only suppose the whales are satiated. 



As we rounded Cape Bird we came in sight of the old well- 

 remembered land marks Mount Discovery and the Western 

 Mountains seen dimly through a hazy atmosphere. It was 

 good to see them again, and perhaps after all we are better this 

 side of the Island. It gives one a homely feeling to see such a 

 familiar scene. 



4 A.M. The steep exposed hill sides on the west side of Cape 

 Bird look like high cliffs as one gets south of them and form 

 a most conspicuous land mark. We pushed past these cliffs 

 into streams of heavy bay ice, making fair progress; as we 

 proceeded the lanes became scarcer, the floes heavier, but the 

 latter remain loose. ' Many of us spent the night on deck as 

 we pushed through the pack.' We have passed some very large 

 floes evidently frozen in the strait. This is curious, as all 

 previous evidence has pointed to the clearance of ice sheets north 

 of Cape Royds early in the spring. 



I have observed several floes with an entirely new type of 

 surface. They are covered with scales, each scale consisting of 

 a number of little flaky ice sheets superimposed, and all ' dip- 

 ping ' at the same angle. It suggests to me a surface with 



