82 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



small berglets were constantly dropping off above this line of 

 weakness. Probably they give rise to the broken masses 

 cemented to floes which we met in the pack ; while the large 

 bergs are pieces broken off from the whole face of the Barrier. 

 From top to bottom the Barrier would here be about 250 feet 

 deep, I expect. 



By this time we had approached as near to Cape Crozier 

 as the swell would allow. In the angle between the Barrier 

 and the rocky cliffs buttressing Mount Terror were piled 

 up masses of pressure ice for some distance back from the 

 sea. The cliffs of dark lava were 250 feet above the water, 

 and were actually overhanging in places. Further west, again, 

 the shore line consisted of some low bluffs separating beaches 

 of considerable extent. Behind these beaches, the rock, instead 

 of being black, was a light brown or buff colour for a distance 

 of a mile along the water's edge, and perhaps a quarter of a 

 mile inland. It was difficult to realize that this brown area 

 was a guano deposit, resulting from the presence of a vast 

 colony of penguins. Through the glasses we could see vast 

 regiments of them, extending far up the hill slopes and making 

 their way across patches of snow from one rocky surface to 

 another. Quite separate from the main rookery were two 

 little exclusive colonies, though why they should move away 

 from their fellows, and so far from the sea, is difficult to 

 explain. In the background towered Mount Terror, 10,000 

 feet high, his summit occasionally appearing through a break 

 in the clouds. 



Captain Scott decided to prospect for a landing-place in 

 a whaleboat, so a party set off to cover the intervening half 

 mile. Bits of floe, that seemed insignificant in the Terra Nova, 

 gave the whaleboat a nasty jar, and the swell quite prohibited 

 our making a landing at any point. We made for the lowest 

 place in the pressure ice. Here a floe had been forced up to 

 form a deep sea cave, and along one side was a pathway used 

 by the Emperor penguins. Hanging head downwards from 

 the roof of the cave were two dead penguins, which had been 

 caught in the pressure. Awaiting us were two Emperors, 

 one full-grown, and the other a lusty chick the size of a duck, 

 and covered with grey down. It marched off in a stately 

 fashion without the ludicrous wobbles of the Adelies ; and so 

 escaped the clutches of Dr. Wilson, who was eager for its 



