78 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
At first it was hard going, but slowly we elbowed our way 
until the spaces of open water became more frequent. Soon 
we found one or two large pools, several miles in extent ;_ 
then the floes became smaller. Later we could see no really | 
big floes at all; ‘“‘the sheets of thin ice are broken into 
comparatively regular figures, none more than thirty yards 
across,” and ‘‘ we are steaming amongst floes of small area _ 
evidently broken by swell, and with edges abraded by 
contact.”’ } 
Wecould not be far from the southern edge of the pack. | 
Twenty-four hours after raising steam we were still mak-_ 
ing good progress, checking sometimes to carve our way | 
through some obstacle. At last we were getting a return 
for the precious coal expended. The sky was overcast, the 
outlook from the masthead flat and dreary, but hour by 
hour it became more obvious that we neared the threshold 
of the open sea. At 1 a.m. on Friday, December 30 (lat. 
about 714° S., noon observation 72° 17’ S., 177°.9) Em 
Bowers steered through the last ice stream. Behind was 
some 400 miles of ice. Cape Crozier was 334 miles (geog.) 
ahead. 
1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 68, 69. 
