1902] McMURDO SOUND 119 



progressed only a few hundred yards, we edged away to the 

 eastward, where things appeared more promising ; here we 

 got into ice which looked much heavier, as it was thickly 

 covered with snow, whereas the ice which we had been 

 attacking was practically bare and blue. The line of demar- 

 cation was well defined, and the difference in the nature of 

 the ice was felt the moment we crossed it — the heavy shocks 

 ceased and the ship was able to make gradual though slow 

 progress. 



I have dwelt somewhat fully on the nature of the pack-ice 

 through which we passed at various times, because the dif- 

 ferences are so great, and because the subject is not only of 

 great interest but of vast importance to the navigator in these 

 seas. It was always a fascinating study to observe the pack- 

 ice, to infer the various conditions under which the ice had 

 been produced, and to note the extraordinary differences of 

 form that frozen sea-water can assume. 



The night of the 21st was gloriously fine. By 8 a.m. we 

 were in the middle of McMurdo Sound, creeping slowly, very 

 slowly, through the pack-ice, which appeared from the crow's- 

 nest to extend indefinitely ahead. But a few miles separated 

 us from the spot where we were ultimately to take up our 

 winter quarters, and as we got to know this scene so well it is 

 interesting to recall some extracts from what I wrote when 

 first we gazed on it : ' To the right is a lofty range of moun- 

 tains with one very high peak far inland, and to the south a 

 peculiar conical mountain, seemingly ending the coastline in 

 this direction ; on the left is Mount Erebus, its foothills, and 

 a glimpse of Mount Terror. The Parry Mountains cannot be 

 seen ahead of us. In the far distance there is a small patch 

 like a distant island. Ross could not have seen these patches, 

 and a remnant of hope remains that we are heading for a strait, 

 and not a bay.' 



This was written shortly after four, and at eight I added : 

 '. . . as we drove slowly southward the apparent islands ahead 

 broadened out, and there was no longer a doubt as to their 

 being connected to form the end of the bay. But it is highly 



