74 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



square with a red cross of St. George near the staff, and the 

 other portion divided longitudinally into yellow and blue. 

 In the middle is his crest of a stag's head, with the motto, 

 " Ready, aye, Ready ! " 



The service was read by Captain Scott and differed little 

 from the ordinary Church of England service, except by the 

 insertion of two special collects. Then some gifts of tobacco 

 and sweets were distributed to all on board. They were 

 presented by the Dunedin Seamen's Mission and were much 

 appreciated. Many of the after-guard unearthed treasures 

 " not to be opened until Christmas Day." Some of these 

 were of an edible nature, and were seen but for a short space 

 before they passed away. I think the most noticeable feature 

 of the dinner was the white damask tablecloth. It supported 

 turtle soup, penguin stew, roast beef, mince pies, and plum- 

 pudding. We enjoyed the meal thoroughly, but, then, that 

 is always the case. Songs — some written for the occasion — 

 stories, chanties, and banjo music filled in the evening. 



Microscopic life simply swarms in these Polar seas, to an 

 infinitely greater extent than in the warm waters of the tropics, 

 though one would be inclined to the opposite belief. The 

 economic research of German and Norwegian biologists has 

 shown that there is almost as much protoplasm — the basis of 

 all life tissues — per acre of ocean as there is in a well-culti- 

 vated crop on land. Most of this floats near the surface in 

 the form of minute plants (diatoms) and minute infusoria, 

 foraminifera, and copepods (which are animals). As a result, 

 the struggle for existence is probably much more strenuous 

 among these floating organisms (plankton) than it is on land. 

 What may be termed the cycle of life — recalling the Indian 

 idea of transmigration — is very evident in the pack ice. At 

 the basis here, as on land, are plants ; for they alone can con- 

 vert inorganic material into protoplasm. Almost every floe 

 in its lower layers is stained yellow from the presence of 

 millions of little organisms (such as Corethron) belonging to 

 the Diatom family. Our biologist is examining some speci- 

 mens through his microscope, and if we look down we see 

 some transparent rods with indications of granular matter at 

 intervals. These are magnified some thousand diameters, so 

 that it can be realised how many are necessary to colour the 

 ice to a deep yellow. Hovering all about the floes, waiting 



