88 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[February 
course for Cape Adare, which was now no miles to the 
S.W. It came on to blow hard again from the S.E. 
in the afternoon, but we were able nearly to lay our 
course under lower topsails ; the snow squalls were 
very thick, but luckily not much ice was sighted. Late 
in the afternoon the weather cleared and we sighted the 
mountainous coast of Victoria Land. During the night 
we got among a lot of weathered bergs and loose pack, 
which had the effect of smoothing the sea. 
At 4 A.M. on the 17th we were within about 2 miles 
of the coast just east of Smith's Inlet. 
The land here was heavily glaciated, hardly a rock 
showing, except some high cliffs and the Lyall Islands 
to the westward. 
Heavy pack lay to the west of us, so we had to 
work along to the eastward, where the sea was fairly 
clear of ice. 
Some large floes lay close in under the cliffs, grinding 
up against them in the heavy swell that was running. 
I was very much disappointed at seeing no piedmont 
to work along on the western sledge journey. The 
cliffs were several hundred feet high except where the 
glaciers ran down, the front of these being from 50 to 
180 feet high. 
We worked along to the eastward, keeping as close 
as we could, and keeping a good lookout for a possible 
landing. 
The scenery was magnificent. In the afternoon we 
entered Robertson Bay and found we had a strong tide 
with us, which was fortunate as the wind had freshened 
