i8o WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



Point. Soon we turned more to the east, and topping a small 

 rise, were confronted by a large bay of open water in the 

 pinnacle ice, in which several orcas were apparently enjoying 

 our discomfiture. The water lay right across our path, and 

 we made as rapid a course as we could lay for the further side 

 of the bay. 



Before going many yards into the pinnacle ice we came on 

 a labyrinthic river of salt water fifty feet or so below the general 

 level of the pinnacle. Luckily the pancake had jammed in this 

 valley, and it was strong enough to carry the sledges. We 

 had to haul up the sledges by hand on the further (southern) 

 side. Here we lunched, and soon after came to a fifteen-foot 

 drop, which necessitated casting off one sledge. I prospected 

 ahead, and the other three followed almost as quickly as I 

 could pick out a feasible route. Every now and again I 

 climbed a pinnacle, and got a fair view, and so we got along 

 much more easily than I had anticipated. 



The grade was good, but necessitated much winding about, 

 and very often drifts of sand covered the ice and played havoc 

 with the runners. The drifts of snow, eighteen inches deep, 

 were no trouble compared with a thin film of sand on an ice 

 ridge. 



We could hardly get a fragment of ice hereabouts which 

 was not full of sponge spicules, which did not improve the 

 hoosh. It was very curious to see the skuas pecking at the 

 numerous sponges lying around, while they neglected the small 

 frozen fish (Notothenia), of which I saw a dozen ! 



By six o'clock we brought up our second sledge to the 

 site I had chosen for a camp. Just north of the camp was a 

 large cavern excavated in the side of a thirty-foot cliff by a 

 meandering river, now frozen. We had a fairly sheltered 

 position for the tent, but there was no snow for the flaps. 

 However, ice blocks made that all secure. Before turning 

 in we took a round of angles, which should fix the position 

 of the edge of the open water quite accurately. 



March 9, 1 9 1 1 . — A comfortable night, the temperature 

 only falling to — 3 . We picked a pretty fair route across 

 the meandering gully. At one place a snow-drift had built 

 up a track above the undercut edge of the river. Then we 

 went down-stream a quarter of a mile, and then hauled the 

 sledges up the further bank. We could see quite a large 



