i9"l KING EDWARD'S LAND 57 



of the 2nd, when we made heavy pack with a number of small 

 bergs in it right ahead. 



The sea was breaking heavily on the pack edge, so we altered 

 course to the southward, and after a few hours' steaming against 

 a nasty head sea we got round it. About eight o'clock the wind 

 fell, and shortly afterwards we sighted what was apparently ice- 

 covered land on the starboard bow soundings gave 208 

 fathoms. The day was lovely, and we had a good view of 

 the land, which proved to be Cape Colbeck, a long convex ice 

 dome without a rock showing. Sextant angles made the summit 

 750 feet high, while the ice face averaged 100 feet. Some heavy 

 pack and a large number of bergs were lying off the cliff, but 

 working our way slowly through we found open water under 

 the cliff. Our prospects were now bright; open water ahead 

 and a perfect day. However, in the afternoon our hopes were 

 blighted; about 10 miles east of Cape Colbeck we came on a 

 line of solid unbroken pack, into which a number of bergs were 

 frozen, stretching from the ice cliffs of King Edward's Land out 

 to the N.W. as far as we could see from the crow's nest. We 

 steamed up to the edge of the ice, stopped, and sounded, getting 

 bottom at 169 fathoms. 



Several seals, one of which looked llke^a sea leopard, and 

 some Adelie and Emperor penguins were on the ice, while large 

 flocks of Antarctic petrels were flying about everywhere. 



The ice cliffs, stretching as far as we could see, gave us 

 no hope of finding a landing-place. 



There is evidence of a great deal of pressure here and the 

 upper edge of the cliff near us, 100 feet high, showed a pressure 

 ridge, where evidently a large berg had been forced against it. 



At 5 P.M. we reluctantly turned and retraced our steps, the 

 only chance of a landing-place being Balloon Bight or some 

 inlet at the east end of the Barrier. Soundings off Cape Colbeck 

 gave us 89 fathoms. During the ni^ht we sailed as close as 

 possible to the ice face but passed nothing but high cliffs. About 

 3 o'clock on the morning of the 3rd a strong S.E. wind sprang 

 up, bringing a low mist, but not thick enough to prevent us 

 keeping close to the coast. Soon after the cliff dipped a little 

 and appeared on both bows, showing we were running into a 

 bay; this was the place where I had had great hopes of effecting 

 a landing, but we were unable to do so. 



