AMONG THE BERGS 



of such a scene. As far as the eye could see from the 

 crow's-nest of the Nimrod, the great, white, wall-sided 

 bergs stretched east, west and south, making a striking 

 contrast with the lanes of blue-black water between them. 

 A stillness, weird and uncanny, seemed to have fallen 

 upon everything when we entered the silent water streets 

 of this vast unpeopled white city. Here there was no 

 sign of life, except when one of the little snow petrels, 

 invisible when flying across the glistening bergs, flashed 

 for a moment into sight as it came against the dark water, 

 its pure white wings just skimming the surface. The 

 threshing of our screw raised a small wave astern of the 

 ship, and at times huge masses of ice and snow from the 

 bergs, disturbed by the unaccustomed motion, fell thun- 

 dering in our wake. Some of these bergs had been 

 weathered into the fantastic shapes more characteristic 

 of the Arctic regions, and from peak and spire flashed 

 out the new caught rays of the morning sun. Beautiful 

 as this scene was, it gave rise to some anxiety in my mind, 

 for I knew that if we were caught in a breeze amidst 

 this maze of floating ice, it would go hard with us. Al- 

 ready an ominous dark cloud was sweeping down from 

 the north, and a few flakes of falling snow heralded the 

 approach of the misty northerly wind. I was unf eignedly 

 thankful, when, about three in the afternoon, I saw from 

 the crow's-nest open water ahead. A few more turn- 

 ings and twistings through the devious water lanes, 

 and we entered the ice free Ross Sea. This was the 

 first time that a passage had been made into the Ross 

 Sea without the vessel having been held up by pack-ice. 

 I think our success was due to the fact that we were 

 away to the eastward of the pack, which had separated 

 from the land and the barrier, and had drifted in a north- 

 west direction. All my experience goes to prove that the 

 easterly route is the best. Behind us lay the long line 



63 



