224 FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
from the top, but owing to the wreaths of cloud we could 
not see the rocks, neither did we see any smoke. 
I made several profile views of the land and the Danger 
Islands of the useful, if not altogether of the ornamental, 
kind of art. Some of the islands we found had not been 
charted by Sir James Ross ; probably he did not see them 
owing to their being surrounded by icebergs. The largest 
was called Darwin Island. It has blue-black precipitous 
sides, with a table-top covered with snow. Some of the 
islets were low and flat, without snow, others rose like 
saw ■, J& ' 
1"- 
'Si 
Danger Islands. 
broken pillars abruptly from the sea, and these also had no 
snow on their flat tops. I failed to find a reason why the 
snow should lie on some of the islands and not on others. 
This has been a tremendous day of business : both 
watches have been coiling the whale lines into their 
compartments in the whale-boats. This is a mighty care- 
ful process. They have to be laid down so that they can 
run out when the whale sounds, without a hitch. One 
line is coiled down in the stern-sheets in a triangular 
