WHALES AND SEALS 



take too long for a mass of ice, twenty miles broad, to go 

 out, and enable us to get to Hut Point in time to discharge 

 her stores. 



All day long Killer whales in large numbers had been 

 rising and blowing near the ice. They came right along- 

 side the ship, and every now and then we could see one 

 rear itself on end and poke its head over the ice-edge on 

 the lookout for a seal. On one occasion we saw a seal 

 suddenly shoot out of the water on to the floe-edge and 

 hurry into safety with almost incredible speed for an 

 animal of such unwieldy proportions. It travelled at 

 least a quarter of a mile over the firm ice before pausing 

 for breath. A minute or two later the cause of this ex- 

 treme haste became evident, for the huge sinister head of 

 a Killer slowly reared itself out of the water and gazed 

 round for its intended victim. We have never seen a 

 seal captured by one of these monsters, but undoubtedly 

 they must fall victims sometimes, for the Killer is always 

 hanging round the ice, poking his head up amongst the 

 loose floes, and the manifest alarm of seals lying there, 

 and their quick retreat to a more secure position away 

 from the water can only be explained as the struggle 

 to escape from a known danger. There were many 

 Adelie penguins about, and it was amusing to watch them 

 forming up in line on the edge of the ice, and then 

 diving in turn into the sea, like swimmers in a handi- 

 cap race. A couple of minutes might elapse before they 

 appeared again. 



We unfastened most of the beams of the pony shelter, 

 so that there would be no difficulty in getting the ponies 

 out at a moment's notice, and removed a lot of the top 

 hamper from the skids. Most of the poor beasts were in 

 bad condition. Those which were white all over seemed, 

 for some reason, to have stood the rough weather better 

 than the parti-coloured ones, but all were enjoying the 



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