6 4 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [APRIL 



winter; we had now 120 penguins and 4 seals in the ice house, 

 which should be sufficient for the winter. All manner of bergs 

 drift past our beach, and it is interesting to note the difference 

 in the buoyancy between the two types of berg the glacier- 

 formed iceberg and the barrier berg composed chiefly or wholly 

 of neve. In one instance a glacier berg about 70 or 80 feet 

 high grounded off our beach in 36 fathoms, and a few days 

 after a barrier berg of similar height drifted past well inside 

 the former. 



March 19. A week of snow and drift, with very little sun. 



This morning about seven o'clock it came on to blow from 

 the S.E., with lots of drift. Our anemometer registered wind 

 at 84 miles an hour and then broke; some of the squalls after 

 this must have been of hurricane force. The dome tent which 

 I had up for magnetic observations was blown away, and we 

 never saw a sign of it again. The wind eased in the evening, but 

 blew a gale all night. 



A very big sea was breaking on the south shore, the spray 

 being carried right across the peninsula, coating our hut with 

 ice. During the heavier squalls it was impossible to stand. The 

 hut shook a great deal, but beyond a few things being shaken 

 off the shelves no damage was done. 



The following day was lovely, and we had a fine aurora in 

 the evening. An arc of yellow stretched from N.W. to N.E., 

 while a green and red curtain extended from the N.W. horizon 

 to the zenith. 



On March 27 we launched the * pram,' which is a Nor- 

 wegian skiff, and tried trawling off the south shore, but did not 

 do very well, our total catch being one sea louse, one sea slug, 

 and one spider; certainly the fishermen, Priestley, Browning, 

 and Dickason, had plenty of difficulties to contend with, as the 

 sea ice was forming so fast that they were compelled to spend 

 most of their time breaking a passage through it. 



March 30. We had another wonderful aurora display this 

 evening. It was like a great curtain of light shaken by a wind, 

 the lower edges being a red colour. 



April 9. The last week has been calm and snowy, and 

 young ice is forming very quickly on the south shore, but on the 

 north shore where there is more swell the sea keeps fairly open. 

 The whole shore since the last gale is piled with enormous blocks 



