THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 379 



anticipated. However, he dug up one corner of the " garden " 

 and proudly showed me that one of the seeds was sprouting ! 



Gran put the eggs in a tin to carry them to the Punch 

 Bowl. For security he carefully packed them ; but as the 

 tin was black and the sun was hot his packing, consisting of 

 snow, soon vanished ! However, we got the eggs safely to 

 the others. Unfortunately five were bad, but the others 

 assisted the menu at our midsummer feast. 



On the 22nd Gran and I explored the ridge and examined 

 the Devil's Thumb. This knob is eight hundred feet above 

 the bowl and is composed of granite stiffened by porphyry 

 dykes. Next day we spent some time examining a huge 

 enclosure of limestone caught up in the rocks forming the 

 Flat Iron. The crumpling and heat had turned the limestone 

 into marble, and along the junction with the granite many 

 unusual minerals had been formed. There were huge brown 

 augites several inches long, and large masses of natrolite, 

 tremolite, and other similar minerals, which filled Debenham's 

 petrological soul with joy. 



We returned to Cape Geology on the 23rd of December. 

 In our absence the tide crack and pressure ridges had been 

 torn wider by the pressure of the Mackay Tongue on the 

 sea ice. However, we got ashore without much difficulty by 

 zigzagging along the torn edges of the crack (see p. 369). 



We found the floor of the hut inches deep in ice, which 

 Forde cleared out with the ice-axe. Meanwhile Gran was 

 busy at the medical chest, where the long names rather con- 

 fused him. However, he seemed to remember " aspirin " 

 as a useful friend, and said it was suited to my case. I 

 swallowed some of the tabloids. Then he came across 

 " salicylate," and apologetically remarked that the latter was 

 what he had been thinking of. So I tried them also. I was 

 of the opinion myself that my trouble was a combination of 

 frostbite, blood-poisoning and rheumatism, due primarily to 

 an infected cut, and later to cold and a diet of seal meat. 

 However, on return to civilization I was assured that I ought 

 to have had my finger cut off, and that the bone had been 

 affected. Gran very willingly started operating on it with 

 a lancet ; but I am thankful to say that I distrusted his powers 

 as a surgeon, with the result that now all is well. 



On Christmas Day we roamed about Cape Geology 



