FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
To-night we steamed into Erebus and Terror Gulf — 
the place where it was arranged the four consorts were to 
meet — and within four hours of each other three of the 
four turned up. The Active, which we had a glimpse of 
a few days ago, came up from the ice to the eastward, and 
a few hours afterwards the Diana's topsails appeared 
above the ice in the north. Half-an-hour afterwards the 
three black barques lay alongside each other, in a pool of 
open water, with the Union Jacks flying apeak. The sun 
at midnight just dipped below the horizon of ice and rose 
again, tinging the level bands of clouds with a faint lemon 
yellow. Near us a square berg, with round buttresses 
rising at its corners, stood dark and grey against the sky. 
We only wanted the little Polar Star to make the picture 
complete. 
