THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



bleats with fear, its eyes starting from its head. It is 

 slow to think of escaping, though its blow-hole may be 

 close by, and prefers to roll over sideways. 



Sometimes the Weddells pretend to be very fierce, 

 and open the mouth to emit a kind of bellow, but they 

 have no belief in their own fierceness and are usually 

 looping away before the roar has time to frighten the 

 enemy. In autumn as many as one hundred Weddells 

 have been counted together on the ice of one little bay. 

 Even in winter they came up through the tide-cracks 

 occasionally, though sometimes several weeks would pass 

 without any being seen. They used the holes which we 

 kept open for dredging as blow-holes, and sometimes they 

 reached there in a very exhausted condition, as evidenced 

 by their distressed breathing. At these seasons there 

 might be no other breathing-space for a long distance. 



The nearest rookery of Weddells was at Inaccessible 

 Island, about eight miles from the camp. When the first 

 young were born early in November we ran out frequently 

 by motor-car to watch them. They were in no way 

 alarmed by the car. 



The newly born calves, in their rough grey fur, already 

 tried the intimidating roar, but there was more fear than 

 fierceness in it. They can snap their lower jaws against 

 the upper very rapidly, but without much force. 



Some of the mothers were very cowardly, and made 

 for the blow-holes, leaving the young to their fate. Others 

 made a determined stand against the intruders and looked 

 so much like business that we didn't care to venture too 

 near, and a few carried the war into the enemy's country 

 and ran at us and chased us ofi*. The rough coat is cast 

 and the smooth spotted skin like the adult appears at a 

 very early age. In the middle of November we could 

 scarcely find any that hadn't more or less moulted. 



268 



