LAND 83 
were glad to find that we were rowing back to the ship and 
already 200 or 300 yards away from the place and in open 
water when there was a noise like crackling thunder and a 
huge plunge into the sea and a smother of rock dust like 
the smoke of an explosion, and we realized that the very 
thing had happened which we had just been talking about. 
Altogether it was a very exciting row, for before we got on 
board we had the pleasure of seeing the ship shoved in so 
close to these cliffs by a belt of heavy pack ice that to us it 
appeared a toss-up whether she got out again or got forced 
in against the rocks. She had no time or room to turn, and 
got clear by backing out through the belt of pack stern first, 
getting heavy bumps under the counter and on the rudder 
as she did so, for the ice was heavy and the swell consider- 
Bole.” + 
Westward of Cape Crozier the sides of Mount Terror 
slope down to the sea, forming a possible landing-place in 
calm weather. Herethereis alarge Adélie penguin rookery 
in summer, and it was here that the Discovery left a record 
of her movements tied to a post to guide the relieving ship 
the following year. It was the return of a sledge party 
which tried to reach this record from the Barrier that led to 
Vince’s terrible death.” As we coasted along we could see this 
post quite plainly, looking as new as the day it was erected, 
and we know now that there is communication with the 
Barrier behind, while this rookery itself is free from the 
blizzards which sweep out to sea by Cape Crozier. It was 
therefore an excellent place to winter and it was a con- 
siderable disappointment to find that it was impossible 
to land. 
This was the first sight we had of a rookery of the little 
Adélie penguin. Hundreds of thousands of birds dotted 
the shore, and there were many thousands in the sea round 
the ship. As we came to know these rookeries better we 
came to look upon these quaint creatures more as familiar 
friends than as casual acquaintances. Whatever a penguin 
does has individuality, and he lays bare his whole life for 
1 Wilson’s Journal, Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 613, 614. 
2 See Introduction, p. xxxv. 
