140 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Jan. 



which the channels were sometimes blocked by fast ice and 

 sometimes by heavy pack, and the latter was constantly 

 altering its position and streaming across the bay in the most 

 confusing manner. The only way out of this cul-de-sac seemed 

 to be to take the same narrow road by which we had entered, 

 but where was it? Meanwhile the whole bay was covered 

 with a rapidly thickening coating of tough young ice, through 

 which it was by no means easy to force a passage, and it 

 looked as though, had we stopped to consider matters, we 

 should have had some difficulty in starting again. Our be- 

 wilderment was, if anything, increased by suddenly coming 

 across the very floe from which we had watered on the previous 

 afternoon. What was it doing here ? It was certainly a long 

 way from where we had seen it before. For more than an 

 hour we splintered through the young ice in a very confused 

 frame of mind, when the sharp eye of Mr. Royds brought to 

 our notice a conspicuous feature which we all recognised as 

 belonging to one of the bergs between which we had entered, 

 and soon we skirted round it and to our relief found the 

 narrow passage still open. 



The rapid formation of young ice at this season of the year 

 was to some extent alarming. To be obliged to winter in these 

 regions would have been a great calamity, since we could 

 scarcely hope to have travelled far from our base. At a later 

 date, when we knew more of the seasonal changes and 

 appreciated how frequently young ice is formed and dissipated, 

 even in the height of the Antarctic summer, we should not 

 have regarded this phenomenon as serious, but at this time we 

 had very little to go upon, and were exceedingly glad to get 

 into a clearer sea once more. 



At noon on February i we were five miles south of our 

 position on the previous day, looking in all directions for some 

 lead which would take us through the thick pack to the N.W. 

 and again allow us to approach the coast at a farther point ; 

 but though we entered several promising channels, they 

 speedily ended, where from the crow's-nest one could see 

 nothing but one vast sea of ice. 



