THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



in crossing the Drygalski Glacier, the passage would 

 occupy a good many days, even under the most favour- 

 able circumstances, and our provisions were running 

 very short. After we fiuished our hoosh, Mawson, with 

 the field-glasses, sighted a seal near to the big berg to 

 the south of us, which we had passed some five days 

 previously. We decided that we would go after this 

 seal the next day; meanwhile, the seal disappeared. 

 Fearing that a blizzard might spring up on the following 

 day, I proposed to go that evening out to the berg in 

 search of seals, but Mackay kindly volunteered instead 

 and started off with his riick-sack and ice-axe and a 

 small allowance of provisions, consisting of some cooked 

 seal meat, biscuits and chocolate. He had a long 

 journey before him. While he was gone I was chiefly 

 occupied in dividing up our rations into half -ration lots. 

 At 5 P.M. I was attracted by the notes of a penguin 

 behind an ice mound at no great distance. Rousing 

 Mawson, we both went in pursuit and after a long and 

 severe chase, captured an Adelie penguin. 



At about midnight, December 4-5, Mackay re- 

 turned to camp after his fourteen miles' tramp over the 

 sea ice. He brought back with him a most welcome 

 addition to our larder in the shape of over thirty pounds 

 of seal meat, liver and seal blubber. He reported that 

 he had had great difficulty in crossing the large ice- 

 crack where we had constructed the causeway for our 

 sledge some five days previously, and he said that it 

 would now have been impossible to have got the sledge 

 over it. Mackay had been up over seventeen hours, 

 and had been sledging, travelling over heavy ice, and 

 carrying his heavy load of seal meat with only short 

 intervals for meals. He had travelled a distance of 

 about twenty-four miles, and of course under the cir- 

 cumstances was much exhausted and badly in need of 



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