FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
where ! Fortunately the wind, that had been blowing 
pretty fresh, fell at night, and our case was not so bad as 
it might have been. It was queer work as it was, and we 
thanked our stars we had steam power to get us out of 
the way of the ice islands when they heaved in sight. All 
night the men were peering out into the mist, and every 
now and then you heard a shout from the vague figure at 
the bow : ' Berg right ahead ! 3 Then a shout from aft : 
'Berg astern!' and 'Berg to port!' 'Berg to starboard!' till 
we thought we were completely hemmed in. In the 
morning the mist lifted suddenly, and the welcome sun 
shone out. Then we saw the grisly company in which we 
had spent the night. White cliffs were shimmering in the 
sunlight in every direction — very beautiful they were, but 
we did not linger in our leave-taking. 
To-day the air is pleasant and warm, and the thermo- 
meter stands at 40 0 . I have managed to make half-a-dozen 
ice-sketches. The difficulty in doing so was the number 
of subjects, also the blaze of white light on the snow made 
me quite blind when I went below to work out my notes. 
It was so dazzling, too, when I came up on deck again, that 
the forms of the ice were invisible for some time. 
The glass went down rapidly to-day, and a N.E. gale 
sprang up in the afternoon. From twelve o'clock midday 
till six we steamed and sailed with the gale on our quar- 
ter, along the side of what appeared to be an endless berg. 
When we reached the south end of the cliff, we turned 
and sailed S.W. for a few miles, and lay in the shelter of 
the ice cliff, with the wind howling through our rigging, till 
the masts trembled down to the cabin floor. We calcu- 
