286 British Antarctic Expedition. 
land as well as out at sea, and the screwings which we 
encountered in our sledge journeys were so tremendous 
that at times they made it impossible to proceed. It 
happens also that even after the ice is 2 or 3 feet 
thick a gale of 100 miles an hour starts, and the ice, 
which might have been absolutely safe for travelling 
one hour, has disappeared and been ground up into 
furious rolling waves the next hour. Under such 
conditions, and with such risks, sledge journeys 
within the Antarctic Circle must be carried on. In 
Robertson Bay the ice did not get more than 5 ft. 
thick, and at places it was only 2 ft. thick all the 
winter through. ` І believe this to be greatly due 
to the strong currents which prevailed in and near 
the Bay. 
On the sledge journey towards our farthest south 
we repeatedly heard noises in the ice-sheet; and 
seeing the irregular and abrupt rise and fall in it at 
places, I got the impression that great pressure prevails 
in that locality. As we entered this harbour in the 
barrier, an Emperor Penguin walked philosophically 
up and down upon the ice towards the E., and two of 
the ordinary penguins (Zudyptes Adeliac) discussed 
our boldness with the utmost interest. Towards the 
south some seals were basking on the ice. I sent a 
boat to the end of the bay after them, and found that 
they were Weddelli. A party of ski-runners which 
I despatched to the west came upon a large number 
of seals in a lake, or large, deep basin, formed in 
the plateau of the barrier. Although the plateau at 
that place fell with a gentle slope, it evidently 
reached the level of the sea, as the seals shot up 
through blow-holes in the ice at the water's edge. 
