THE BOAT JOURNEY 
climbing on the way back to camp had nearly persuaded us to 
tlu'ow the stuff away, but we had held on (regardless of the 
condition of our already sorely tried clothing), and had our 
reward at the camp. The long ba.}' had been a magnificent 
sight, even to eyes that had dwelt on grandeur long enough 
and were hungry for the simple, familiar things of everyday 
life. Its green-blue waters were being beaten to fury by the 
north-westerly gale. The mountains, stern peaks that dared 
the stars/' peered througli the mists, and between them huge 
glaciers poured doAvn from the gi'eat ice-slopes and -fields that 
lay behind. We counted twelve glaciers and heard every few 
minutes the reverberating roar caused by masses of ice calving 
from the parent streams. 
On May 14 we niade our preparations for an early start on 
the following day if the Aveather held fair. We expected to be 
able to pick up the remaiiis of the sea-elephant on our way up 
the sound. All hands were recovering from the chafing caused 
by our wet clothes during the boat journey. The insides of 
our legs had suffered severely, and for some time after landing 
in the cove we found movement extren-iely uncomfortable. We 
paid our last visit to the nests of the albatrosses, which were 
situated on a little undulating plateau above the cave amid 
tussocks, snow-patches, and little frozen tarns. Each nest 
consisted of a mound over a foot high of tussock-grass, roots, 
and a little earth. The albatross lays one egg and very rarely 
two. The chicks, which are hatched in January, are fed on 
the nest by the parent birds for almost seven months before 
they take to the sea and fend for themselves. Up to four 
months of a,ge the chicks are beautiful white masses of downy 
fluff, but M^hen we arrived on the scene their plumage was 
almost complete. Very often one of the parent birds was on 
guard near the nest. We did not enjoy attacking these birds, 
but our hunger knew no laAV. They tasted so very good and 
assisted our recuperation to such an extent that each time we 
killed one of them we felt a little less remorseful. 
May lo was a great day. We made our hoosh at 7.30 a.m. 
Then we loaded up the boat and gave her a flying launch down 
the steep Ijeach into the surf. Heavy rain had fallen in the 
189 
