SEARCH FOR NORTHERN PARTY 



Captain Evans proceeded to make a close examination 

 of the coast. The ship did not get back to the hut until 

 February 11. During this time Murray and Priestley 

 found work of scientific interest. Priestley tramped 

 the country, and now that the snow had in great measure 

 disappeared, was enabled to see various interesting 

 geological deposits previously covered up. Beds of 

 sponge spicules, enclosing various other fossils, were 

 evidence of recent elevation of the sea bottom. A thick 

 deposit of salts was found on a mound between two 

 lakes, and some curious volcanic formations were dis- 

 covered. The smaller ponds were entirely melted, and 

 gave a chance to find some forms of life not evident in 

 winter. The penguins continued to afford Murray 

 material for study. 



The Nimrodfs search for the Northern Party was 

 both difficult and dangerous. Captain Evans had to 

 keep close to the coast, in order to guard against the 

 possibility of overlooking a signal, which might consist 

 only of a small flag, and the sea was obstructed by 

 pack-ice. He was to go north as far as a sandy beach 

 on the northern side of the Drygalski Barrier, and he 

 performed his duty most thoroughly in the face of 

 what he afterwards modestly described as " small navi- 

 gational difficulties." The beach, which had been 

 marked on the chart, was found to have no existence in 

 fact, but the Nimrod reached the neighbourhood indi- 

 cated, and then proceeded south again, still searching 

 every yard of the coast. On the 4th a tent was sighted 

 on the edge of the Barrier, and when a double detonator 

 was fired the three men who had been to the Magnetic 

 Pole came tumbling out and ran down towards the 

 edge of the ice. Mawson was in such a hurry that he 

 fell down a crevasse, and did not get out again until a 



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