68 



PLATE XXXV. GRANITE HARBOUR. 



From a photograph by L. C. BERNACCHI (Be. 29, ^-plate), Jan. 20, 1902. 

 (Map A.) 



Granite Harbour, on the western side of M'Murdo Sound, was at one time 

 very nearly chosen for our winter quarters. Captain Scott writes later as 

 follows : 



" In fact, altogether there was a promise of snugness and security about this 

 spot which we met nowhere else. It is only in 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 have been by steep 

 and lofty hills . . . our meteorological observations would have been comparatively 

 valueless ; but the greatest drawback would have been that we should have been 

 completely cut off from travelling over the sea-ice beyond the mouth of our 

 harbour. There can be no doubt that the sea-ice was constantly broken up along 

 this coast in the winter of 1902 . . . and ... it is possible we should never have 

 reached even as far south as the spot at which we eventually wintered. It is when 

 one remembers how naturally a decision to return to this place might have been 

 made, that one sees how easily the results of the expedition might have been 

 missed." Scott, Voyage of the ' Discovery, ,' vol. i., p. 159. 



