Chapter fliU 



THE ATTEMPT TO REACH KING EDWARD VII LAND 



were now in the Ross Sea, and it was evident that 



* * we had avoided the main pack. Our position at 

 noon was 70° 43' South latitude, and 178° 58' East longi- 

 tude. We were now steering a little more westerly, so as 

 to strike the Barrier well to the east of Barrier Inlet, and 

 also to avoid the heavy pack that previous expeditions had 

 encountered to the east of meridian 160° West, where 

 the ice has always proved impenetrable. In the after- 

 noon the wind blew fresh, and the sky became overcast 

 again, and snow began to fall. This snow differed from 

 that brought by the northerly wind; the northerly snow 

 had consisted of flakes about a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter, while that now met with was formed of small 

 round specks, hard and dry, like sago — the true Antarctic 

 type. Birds now became more numerous. Large num- 

 bers of Antarctic petrels circled round and round the 

 ship. Their numbers were so great that as the flights 

 passed close by, the whirring of their wings could be dis- 

 tinctly heard on board. 



Towards evening we began to pass a number of small 

 floe-bergs and pack ice. We could not see very far ahead, 

 as the weather was thick, so we steered more to the 

 west to skirt this mass of ice. One berg had evi- 

 dently been overturned, and also showed signs of having 

 been aground. The Adelie penguins had become much 

 more numerous, and we saw an occasional seal, but too 

 far off to distinguish the species. During the early hours 



67 



