THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



against the rigid ice again. Low pack-ice is not visible at 

 any great distance, and one could not trust an appearance 

 of open water, even with the wide horizon obtained from 

 the crow's-nest. All night long we followed a zig- 

 zag course in the endeavor to penetrate to the east, 

 at times steering due west, practically doubling on our 

 tracks, before we could find an opening which would admit 

 of our pursuing the direction we desired to follow. Dur- 

 ing the night it had been somewhat cloudy towards the 

 south, but about 3 a.m. it became quite clear over the 

 Barrier, and we saw to our disappointment that we 

 had made hardly any progress to the eastward, for we 

 were at that hour only just abeam of the Bay of Whales. 

 About half -past seven in the morning we passed a huge 

 berg, nearly three miles in length and over two hundred 

 feet in height, and at eight o'clock the sea became much 

 more open; indeed, there was no ice in sight to the east 

 at all. It was a bright, sunny morning, and things looked 

 much more hopeful as I left the bridge for a sleep, after 

 having been on deck all night. 



When I came up again, just before noon on January 

 25, I found that my hopes for a clear run were vain. 

 Our noon observations showed that we were well to the 

 north of the Barrier, and still to the westward of the point 

 we had reached the previous morning before we had been 

 forced to turn round. The prospect of reaching King 

 Edward VII Land seemed to grow more remote every 

 ensuing hour. There was high hummocky pack inter- 

 spersed with giant icebergs to the east and south of the 

 ship, and it was obvious that the whole sea between Cape 

 Colbeck and the Barrier at our present longitude must 

 be full of ice. To the northward the strong ice blink on 

 the horizon told the same tale. It seemed as if it would 

 be impossible to reach the land, and the shortness of coal, 



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