THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 341 



but to study the queer morass we encountered. We were 

 sinking nearly to the knee in snow crystals. These were not 

 wet, but so incoherent that they clogged the sledge-meter, and 

 for the remainder of our journey we had to remember the miles 

 missed from our reckoning before reaching Cape Bernacchi. 



The yellow goggles gave rise to a queer illusion. It was 

 just as if we were pulling through heavy sand at the mouth 

 of a river, and owing to some wind and water action, there 

 were the same ripples and channels as are to be seen in an 

 estuary. 



Captain Scott had ordered us to leave a week's provisions 

 at Cape Bernacchi, for we should need this if the bay ice 

 went out, and we had to return overland. So we carried up 

 a half-tin of biscuit, and filled it with butter, pemmican, and 

 chocolate. This was reared on end, and protected by a cairn of 

 granite. We surmounted it with one of our precious bamboos 

 carrying a flag. I left a note informing the finder as to our 

 progress, and immediate plans. This was the first of our 

 post offices, of which we established four more during the 

 summer. 



Though all this took time, we also made a collection of 

 rocks for Debenham. The loose snow had wrenched his 

 knee badly, so that much as he would have liked to explore 

 our first new land, he was unable to move many yards from 

 the sledge. Marble, granite, tourmaline gneiss, basalts and 

 schists, and a few mineral veins gave us quite a fine collection 

 — though most of them were moraine specimens. 



I sketched the coast to northward, observing with great 

 satisfaction that there was no open water in sight. Numerous 

 seals were basking in the next bay, which augured well for 

 our future food supply. Less welcome was the rugged area 

 of screw pack which filled the bay, and which we should have 

 to traverse on our next stage. 



Debenham had packed the sledge, and we moved off in 

 the afternoon, winding in and out between jagged lumps of 

 ice, sometimes eight feet high. There was interesting spoor 

 here ; an Emperor penguin had evidently passed by, and his 

 sturdy tread had hardened the snow somewhat. Ensuing 

 blizzards swept away the softer snow, and left his imperial 

 footprints standing in relief. 



We camped in the screw-pack, and passed a peaceful night. 



