364 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [February 
lifted in one spot or another. There was no movement 
in the ice in respect to the ship till 5 a.m., when Cheetham 
reported a general easing up, and shortly after the ship 
was able to turn and work out to the northward without 
unusual difficulty. 
After taking bearings and making sketches from the 
edge of the pack we ran to the northward and noi'th- 
Feh. 26, westward, with pack on the port hand and 
c*"' ^cfo ^'^ ' the coast beyond the pack till 2 p.m., when the 
coast made a sharp bend to the westward, 
though the edge of the pack still continued to trend to 
the northward. While one of the soundings was being 
taken on this day a rorqual fouled the sounding wire 
in a most extraordinary manner, and for a short time there 
was quite an exciting and very novel sport of playing 
whale, which naturally ended by the wire parting. 
This was the last we saw of the land, the pack not being 
finally cleared till in Lat. 64°23' S. Many times false hopes 
were raised by the ship running into clear water and being 
able to turn west and even south of west towards where 
C. Hudson is marked on the charts, but invariably it was 
only a few hours before she would be turned and, as a 
general rule, each noon position was east of the previous 
one. On the whole, after leaving the coast, the floes were 
of a less formidable character than those found off the north 
shore of Victoria Land, but the interspaces were filled 
with slush or else frozen over with new ice. This made 
pack that earlier in the season would have been easily 
negotiable now absolutely impassable. The nights also 
were drawing out, and after dark the first appearance of 
