144 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Aug. 



canvas spread she is prepared for her voyage over the floe, she 

 at least looks a very imposing and business-like tender.' 



1 August 13. — For three days we have had a furious blizzard, 

 which has kept us closely confined. On the few occasions 

 when we attempted to reach the ship side we found it almost 

 impossible to stand, and there was a curious suffocating feeling 

 in battling with the whirling drift. Some gusts were so violent 

 that the ship was shaken, and things hanging in the wardroom 

 were set on the swing, notwithstanding that the ice must now 

 be from eighteen to twenty feet thick immediately around us. 

 On Tuesday, with a lull, the glass rose three-quarters of an inch 

 in six hours — about the steepest gradient we have known. It 

 then fell again sharply, and the wind returned in full force. 

 To-day it is quite calm again, and we can see that there has 

 been an immense deposition of snow ; the ice-sledges are 

 covered, and the surface has risen to the level of the meteoro- 

 logical screens. From the hills I could see no sign of open 

 water — a curious difference from last year, when after such a 

 gale the sea would certainly have been open up to the Northern 

 Islets.' 



* August 20. — Sometime ago poor little "Tin-tacks," who 

 has a litter of pups in the after deckhouse, was found with her 

 mouth covered with blood; she was unable to eat, and on 

 examination Wilson found that her tongue had been torn or 

 cut off within an inch or two of the root. The only fitting 

 theory seems to be that the poor beast got it frozen to a tin 

 and then became frightened, and jagged or bit it off. It was a 

 horrible accident, but it shows the astonishing vitality of these 

 dogs that within a few days she was able to eat and ran about 

 as though nothing had happened ; she had evidently quite 

 ceased to suffer pain. But although she can feed herself she 

 cannot keep herself clean, and she is likely to get into such a 

 bad state in this way that I fear we shall have to kill her. 



1 Wilson has found a hard, calcareous growth in the seals' 

 hearts which appears to show that these animals suffer from 

 gout ! 



'We have seen some very beautiful "mother-of-pearl" 



