THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



its own power, but it was held up again by the 

 snow. By dint of more pushing and pulling, and with 

 the help of its own engine, the car reached a point 

 about half a mile south of the ship, but our hopes as 

 to the future practical utility of the machine were con- 

 siderably damped. We could not accurately judge of 

 the merits of the car on this trial, for it had not been 

 fitted with the proper wheels for travelling in snow, and 

 the engine was not tuned up to working efficiency. 

 There was no difficulty with the ignition, for it sparked 

 at once, in spite of there being at the time 17° of 

 frost. We left the car at one o'clock and went on board 

 to lunch, and, on coming back, found a couple of Adelie 

 penguins on the ice solemnly eyeing the strange arrival. 

 More cracks had opened up near the car, and as there 

 was no prospect of it helping us to reach the land at this 

 time I decided to have it hauled back to the ship and 

 hoisted on board at once, to await a more favourable 

 opportunity for a thorough test. Ignominously it was 

 hauled through the snow until it got within a hundred 

 yards of the ship where the ice was harder. Then, with 

 a puff and a snort, it ran up alongside. In the morning 

 I had had dreams of mounting the car with Day and 

 gaily overtaking the sledge-party as they toiled over the 

 ice, but these dreams were short-lived. 



In the afternoon we hauled our anchor in and 

 steamed west to have a look at the situation of the ice 

 on the western coast, but we had not gone four miles be- 

 fore we were brought up by ice, and we returned to our 

 old moorings. That evening most of our staff tasted 

 skua gull for dinner for the first time, and pronounced it 

 delicious. The method of catching these birds was 

 simple and efficient, if not exactly sporting. A baited 

 hook and line was thrown on to the floe, and in a couple 

 of minutes a skua would walk up to the bait and swallow 



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