NEW LAND 
in the seals provided welcome exercise for all hands. Three 
crab-eater cows shot on the 21st were not accompanied by a 
bull, and blood was to be seen about the hole from which they 
had craAvled. We surmised that the bull had become the prey 
of one of the killer- whales. These a.ggressive creatures were 
to be seen often in the lanes and pools, and we were always 
distmstful of their ability or willingness to discriminate between 
seal and man. A lizard-hke head would show while the killer 
gazed along the floe with wicked eyes. Then the brute would 
dive, to come up a few moments later, perhaps, under some 
unfortunate seal reposing on the ice. Worsley examined a 
spot where a killer had smashed a hole 8 ft. by 12 ft. in 12| in. 
of hard ice, covered by 2^ in. of snow. Big blocks of ice had 
been tossed on to the floe surface. Wordie, engaged in measuring 
the thickness of young ice, went through to his waist one day 
just as a killer rose to blow in the adjacent lead. His companions 
pulled him out hurriedly. 
On the 22nd the EnduTance reached the farthest south 
point of her drift, touching the 77th parallel of latitude in 
long. 35'" W. The summer had gone ; indeed the summer had 
scarcely been with us at all. The temperatures were low day 
and night, and the pack was freezing solidly around the ship. 
The thermometer recorded 10° below zero Fahr. at 2 a.m. on 
the 22nd. Some hours earUer we had watched a wonderful 
golden mist to the southward, where the rays of the declining 
sun shone through vapour rising from the ice. All normal 
standards of perspective vanish under such conditions, and 
the low ridges of the pack, Avith mist lying between them, gave 
the illusion of a wilderness of mountain-peaks like the Bernese 
Oberland. 1 could not doubt now that the Endurance wa.s 
confined for the winter. Gentle breezes from the east, south, 
and south-west did not disturb the hardening floes. The seals 
were disappearing and the birds were leaving us. The land 
showed still in fair weather on the distant horizon, but it was 
beyond our reach now, and regrets for havens that lay behind 
us were vain, " We must wait for the spring, which may bring 
us better fortune. If I had guessed a month, ago that the ice 
would grip us here, I would have established our base at one 
35 
