igo2] GRANITE HARBOUR 117 



streams of water meandering over the stones, and it was 

 pleasant to hear their music and to drink the pure snow water, 

 and still pleasanter to find in their sheltered courses small 

 banks of moss of almost luxuriant growth. We headed up 

 the bay to see where the inlet ended after its sharp turn, and 

 disturbed' several skuas guarding their fluffy slate-coloured 

 chicks. They showed their annoyance by wheeling round and 

 swooping down straight at us, only turning their course at the 

 very last moment, so that one was sometimes brushed by their 

 wings as they swept past with wild cries. The skua is a heavy 

 bird with a very formidable bill, and such attacks appear 

 alarming, as doubtless they are intended to do ; but though 

 we often saw them under similar conditions, I do not think 

 anyone was ever actually struck. 



After scrambling over rocks for some time, we reached the 

 corner from which we could see the extremity of the inlet, 

 where the snout of a glacier of no great size dipped into the 

 sea. We saw at once that the inner recesses of this inlet would 

 have afforded us excellent shelter for the winter. In a week 

 or two the ice would have pushed out to sea, leaving a free 

 surface on the placid waters of the bay. Around the second 

 corner the sea swell had fallen to a small rhythmic movement 

 which could have caused little inconvenience. The steep 

 shores around were skirted everywhere with a low strip of fast 

 ice on which it would have been easy for us to land, and across 

 which we could have carried the heavy materials for construct- 

 ing our huts. Here and there on this ice-foot lay a somnolent 

 seal, giving assurance of winter food ; and although the waters 

 of the inlet were doubtless very deep, as they are in most 

 fiords, it is probable that in the vicinity of the glacier we should 

 have found some bank of morainic material on which we could 

 have cast our anchors ; in fact, altogether there was a promise 

 of snugness and security about this spot which we met no- 

 where else. 



It is only on looking back on our experiences that I can 

 see how much we should have missed had we succumbed to the 

 allurements of this tempting spot. Surrounded as we should 



