62 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



the ship in spite of the havoc wrought upon their companions. 

 When some half-dozen tons of ice had been collected, we cast 

 loose from the floe — now levelled like its neighbours— and 

 steamed to southward. The blocks of ice were gradually 

 transferred to melting-tanks over the engine-house, and gradu- 

 ally the whole heap was converted into water. 



Now that our environment had so changed, we met with a 

 different and much more interesting fauna. I have mentioned 

 the snow petrel, and on the same day we first met the Adelie^ 

 penguins and the Crab-eater seal. We have_ seen plenty of 

 penguins since, but I shall never forget the forerunner. He 

 waddled towards us exactly like a tiny child learning to 

 walk, who runs quickly to his mother, knowing that a topple 

 at the end does not matter. Then he would stop and flap his 

 wings (I was going to say arms), and bow and turn his head 

 around in a most human and unbirdlike way. The most strik- 

 ing feature, I think, was the stiff little tail which he dragged 

 on the ground, and which probably helped to support him. 

 It is formed of a few stiff black feathers, consisting of little 

 but the quill, and adds to the comicality of the bird. The 

 colouring of pure white breast and black back reminds one of 

 a stout little man in a swallow-tail coat and white shirt — both 

 much too big for him ! 



At three in the afternoon I heard our battery of guns in 

 full action, and rushing up on deck found that a family of 

 four seals had met their doom in the interests of science and 

 of the kitchen. A few hundred yards away lay three of the 

 seals dead in their tracks, but one poor beggar had crawled to 

 another floe before receiving a fatal bullet. Several lanes of 

 blue-black water separated the floes, but the pram was quickly 

 put overboard, and six of us made for the seals. A hawser 

 on to a hummock on the smaller floe brought the latter near 

 the ship, and then we dragged the large crab-eater (eight feet 

 six long) to the ship's side, where she was hoisted on board by 

 the crew. Then a short passage in the pram brought us to 

 the other floe, and a similar proceeding enabled us to get the 

 rest aboard also. 



Of the four specimens only one was a male, and he was 

 not full grown. The largest female was over nine feet long. 

 In colour they were a dirty yellow-brown above and paler 

 below. The young seals were prettily dappled. All four had 



