SKUA GULLS 



angular distances he had found, respectively, for Mount 

 Erebus, Mount Lister and Mount Melbourne. As the 

 result of the application of our calculations to the 

 chart it became evident that we had actually crossed 

 the Nordenskjold Ice Barrier of Captain Scott's survey, 

 and were now opposite what on his chart was termed 

 Charcot Bay. This was good news and cheered us up 

 very much, as it meant that we were nearly twenty 

 miles further north than we previously thought we 

 were. 



The day was calm and fine, and the surface of the 

 sea ice was covered with patches of soft snow with nearly 

 bare ice between, and the sledging was not quite as 

 heavy as usual. In the evening two skua gulls went for 

 our seal meat during the interval that we were returning 

 for the second sledge after pulling on the first sledge. 

 It was wonderful how quickly these gulls made their 

 appearance from distant parts of the horizon as soon 

 as any fresh meat was available. The previous day one 

 of them had actually attempted to eat the seal meat out 

 of our frying-pan when the meat was being cooked in 

 boiling oil. We could see as we came up from a distance 

 that the heat of the savoury dish puzzled him a good 

 deal, as each time he dipped his beak into our hot mince 

 he jerked it out again very suddenly and seemed a very 

 surprised bird. 



We had a magnificent view of the rocky coast-line, 

 which is here most impressive. The sea ice stretched 

 away to the west of us for several miles up to a low cliff 

 and slope of piedmont glacier ice, with occasional 

 black masses of rock showing at its edge. Several 

 miles further inland the piedmont glacier ice terminated 

 abruptly against a magnificent range of mountains, 

 tabular for the most part but deeply intersected. In the 



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