THE VOYAGE OVER THE PACK ICE 



203 



almost looked on his disappearance as a good omen, but it 

 afterwards gave rise to the theory that we were lost on the ice. 



Sunday, March 24. Began our preparations for breakfast 

 at 5.25 A.M. and were ready for a start as early as 6.40. The 

 weather was very fine ; far away to the south we could see the 

 mountains, much distorted by refraction ; the sun was shining 

 from a clear sky and making the 

 snow glitter all around us. It 

 was bad for the eyes, and we 

 had to be careful and wear 

 goggles. We made fairly good 

 progress westward, bound for 

 Thetis Island, but after a couple 

 of hours' work the sky got 

 cloudy, a strong easterly wind 

 sprang up, and in a remarkably 

 short time the snow was drift- 

 ing heavily. Before long we were 

 obliged to camp ; the weather 

 was getting bad, and only half a 

 day's work was done. Tempera- 

 ture 35 to 40 C. The 

 barometer is falling and it looks 

 as if we are in for another storm. 



Monday, March 25. The 

 wind blew hard all night, and 

 we could not leave the camp 

 until 8 A.M., when the wind had 

 decreased in velocity to about fifteen miles an hour. Progress 

 was very difficult, as the thick cloudy weather made it 

 impossible for us to see where we were stepping, and every- 

 thing looked level. Sometimes we thought there was a small 

 hole ahead of us and braced ourselves against a fall downward, 

 but instead we would stumble against a snowdrift, fall, and 

 drive our arms into the snow and get our sleeves and mittens 

 filled with it. At other times we found a hole instead of a 

 drift, but the result would be the same, mittens full of snow, 

 which would melt and wet the furs. 



It cleared up a little towards noon, and we saw that we were 

 outside the sand-spits. We changed our course, and shortly 



PILED UP IN IMMENSE 

 PRESSURE-RIDGES. 



