THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



petrels than during the previous expedition. On this day 

 we saw one albatross of the sooty species, and a couple 

 of giant petrels. The wind was westerly all day, and 

 towards the evening there were one or two slight snow 

 squalls. Our position at noon on the 26th was latitude 

 78° 9' South, and longitude 178° 43' West, and the air 

 temperature had risen to 28° Fahr. 



On the 28th, the weather kept fine, though the sky 

 was practically covered with cloud. A great arch of 

 clear sky rose in the south about noon ; shortly before this 

 a curious whitish appearance gave one the impression of 

 land, and as the sky cleared this became more distinct, 

 and proved to be Erebus and Terror, the two huge moun- 

 tains we were approaching. By 2 p.m. they had grown 

 much more distinct, and were evidently raised by mirage 

 to even statelier altitudes than their own. We could 

 plainly see the smoke from Mount Erebus, which from 

 our point of view showed to the south of Mount Terror. 

 We altered the course a little so as to make Cape Crozier. 

 I had some thoughts of placing a depot there to be handy 

 for any party that might go over from winter quarters 

 to study penguin life, but on second thoughts decided 

 not to delay the ship. Our noon position put us in lati- 

 tude 77° 6' South, and longitude 175° 35' East. We 

 passed Cape Crozier, where the Barrier meets the land 

 some distance off, about ten o'clock that night. The 

 weather was beautifully fine and clear, and except for 

 an occasional berg and a few pieces of heavy floe, there 

 was no ice visible. We steamed fairly close in along the 

 coast, and at 3 a.m. were abreast of Erebus Bay. To 

 the north-west of us was Beaufort Island showing a pre- 

 cipitous rock face on its eastern side; Cape Bird was just 

 on our port bow. The weather was overcast and snowy 

 as we turned Cape Bird at 5.30 a.m. on January 29. We 



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