THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



wide gaps between this coast range were vast glaciers 

 fairly heavily crevassed, descending by steep slopes from 

 an inland plateau to the sea. 



On November 15, there was a fresh wind from the 

 west-south-west. The weather was overcast, and a few 

 flakes of snow were faUing. We killed two young seals 

 to replenish our food-supply. Mackay took over the 

 blubber cooking apparatus so as to set Mawson free 

 for his theodolite observations. The sky was dull and 

 leaden for most of the day, with occasional ghmpses of 

 light over the western mountains. On the whole it 

 looked as if a blizzard were approaching. 



We were still doing our travelhng by night and 

 sleeping during the afternoon. When we arose from 

 our sleeping-bag at 8 p.m. on the night of November 15, 

 we found that the signs of the blizzard had more or 

 less passed away. There was a beautifully perfect 

 "Noah's Ark" in the sky; the belts of cirrus-stratus 

 composing the ark stretched from south-south-west to 

 north-north- east, converging towards the horizon in 

 each of these directions. Fleecy sheets of frost smoke 

 arose from over the open water on Ross Sea, and formed 

 dense cumulus clouds. This, of course, was a certain 

 indication to us that open water was not far distant, 

 and impressed upon us the necessity of making every 

 possible speed if we hoped to reach our projected point 

 of departure on the coast for the Magnetic Pole before 

 the sea ice entirely broke up. 



This had been a truly glorious day, bright and 

 sunny, and as this was the end of a food week and the 

 messman for the week had kept a little food up his 

 sleeve, so to speak, we fared sumptuously. The cocoa 

 was extra strong, milky and sweet. Mackay's opinion 

 was that such cocoa much reminded him of better days, 

 and was absolutely uplifting. 



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