96 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Jan. 



of the sea. By increasing the length of the net and largely 

 reducing its aperture, we found that we could use it whilst the 

 1 Discovery ' was travelling through the water at her ordinary 

 speed, and thus daily explore this most interesting form of life. 

 Although Dr. Koettlitz performed all the serious work in this 

 department, many of us, in a more amateurish fashion, were 

 interested in examining the strangely beautiful forms revealed 

 by the microscope in these catches. It was strange to have 

 sailed the sea for many years in entire ignorance that such 

 things were. Our attempts to manufacture a speed-net to cap- 

 ture the small crustaceans and other surface beasts were not so 

 successful. Mr. Hodgson, our biologist, in whose department 

 these were, reported that the delicate organisms were hope- 

 lessly destroyed, and came up 'all heads and tails.' The 

 phyto-plankton, or plant life of the surface-waters, changed 

 greatly on our advance to the south, and many beautiful forms 

 of the tropic and sub-tropic seas gave place to vast quantities of 

 diatoms. Since this life possesses no power of locomotion, 

 under certain conditions it must form a guide to the surface 

 currents of the ocean, and when further exploration has been 

 made, as startling facts will be obtained from such data in the 

 South as have already been established in the North. 



On January 6 the swell ceased and floes increased to four 

 or five acres in extent, and late at night they were almost a 

 mile in length, but very rotten ; a touch from our iron prow 

 caused long cracks to fly out in all directions, into one of 

 which the ship would glide and gradually gather way for the 

 next obstruction. By the 7th we were in lat. 68.32 S., having 

 only made thirty-two miles in the past twenty-four hours, but 

 in the evening a considerable amount of ' open-water sky ' 

 appeared ahead, and soon after the ice slackened greatly, and 

 we passed through a number of large water-holes. A fine 

 following breeze in the evening enabled us to shut off steam in 

 all but the thickest places. 



Since our capture of seals we had been regularly feeding on 

 seal-meat, and on the whole, even at this time, we found it 

 palatable : there are naturally prejudices to be overcome in 



