Farthest South. 257 
My entire staff accompanied me on shore, also 
four sailors. A rather big swell was running, so 
we had to use great care when we approached the 
stony beach. As we rapidly followed a big wave, 
we succeeded in reaching far up the beach. A 
couple of seals plunged into the water at our landing 
place, just where our boat struck. We jumped out 
ON THE BEACH OF POSSESSION ISLAND. 
and hauled the boat up, and succeeded in landing 
instruments, cameras, and guns. The island was 
covered with snow, and presented quite a different 
appearance to that which it bore during my landing 
in 1894. Very few penguins were left, but some 
skuagulls were still soaring about. We approached 
the solitary pole which had faced the Antarctic gales 
for five years. Since I last closed the iron box, no 
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