THE HEART OF THE ANTAECTIC 



angles from the top of this point. The point was formed 

 of coarse porphyritic grey gneiss, traversed by black 

 dykes of rock, apparently tinguaite, and another variety 

 containing an abundance of sparkling black crystals of 

 hornblende, which may be termed provisionally a horn- 

 blende lamprophyre. 



After lunch we passed close by a mother seal and her 

 baby. The mother charged us and we had to skid along 

 quick and lively past her with the sledges. That day was 

 the first occasion that we tried the experiment of strength- 

 ening the brew of the tea by using the old tea-leaves of 

 a previous meal mixed with the new ones. This was 

 Mackay's idea, and Mawson and I at the time did not 

 appreciate the experiment. Later on, however, we were 

 very glad to adopt it. 



The sledging that afternoon was about the heaviest 

 we had experienced up to date. The weather was now 

 daily becoming warmer and the saline snow on the sea 

 ice became sticky in consequence. It gripped the 

 runners of the sledges like glue, and we were only able 

 with our greatest efforts to drag the sledges over this at 

 a snail's pace. We were all thoroughly exhausted that 

 evening when we camped at the base of a rocky promon- 

 tory about 180 ft. high. This chff was formed of coarse 

 gneiss, with numerous dark streaks, and enclosures of 

 huge masses of greenish-grey quartzite. 



After our evening hoosh we walked over to a very 

 interesting small island about three-quarters of a mile 

 distant. It was truly a most wonderful place geologi- 

 cally, and was a perfect elysium for the mineralogist. 

 The island, which we afterwards called Depot Island, 

 was accessible on the shoreward side, but rose per- 

 pendicularly to a height of 200 ft. above sea-level on the 

 other three sides. There was very little snow or ice 

 upon it, the surface being almost entirely formed of 



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