114 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. A .gust 



by the news our sportsmen brought back that the 

 country was fairly vegetated, and that numerous tracks 

 of hares, foxes, and ptarmigan had been seen. 



No doubt now remained about leaving the ' Dis- 

 covery ' there, and preparations were at once made for 

 our parting company. Lieutenant Wyatt Eawson 

 and a sledge crew joined the 'Alert,' to strengthen her 

 crew and as far as possible to share the honours of 

 a struggle towards the Pole between the two ships. If 

 the vessels did not separate too far, they were to 

 return to their own ship during the autumn. It was 

 impossible for two ships' companies to have worked 

 together for a common end more harmoniously than 

 those of the ' Alert ' and ' Discovery,' and one and all 

 regretted that duty rendered our separation necessary. 



In the evening I ascended a hill on the north side 

 of Discovery Harbour, a height of 1200 feet by aneroid. 

 It was the worst ground for walking over that I ever 

 met with ; the level plots were cut up by the frost into 

 large clods, like a deeply ploughed field with cross 

 ridges ; the whole was covered with a smooth carpet of 

 snow, which while hiding the irregularities from sight 

 was not solid enough to bear one's weight. The footing- 

 was so extremely uncertain that several times I fell 

 headlong. It was, however, extremely gratifying to 

 find a loamy soil with abundant sorrel, willow, saxi- 

 frages and grasses, instead of hard limestone and 

 gravel plains. 



The geological formation of the area around 

 Discovery Bay differs entirely from the massive Silurian 

 limestones of Bessels Bay on the opposite side of the 

 channel. Slates, with thin-bedded hard limestones 



