32 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [December 
young floes and hoary older ones, occasionally a pressed- 
up berg, very heavy. 
The best news of yesterday was that we drifted 15 miles 
to the S.E., so that we have not really stopped our 
progress at all, though it has, of course, been pretty 
slow. 
I really don't know what to think of the pack, or when 
to hope for open water. 
We tried Atkinson's blubber stove this afternoon with 
great success. The interior of the stove holds a pipe in 
a single coil pierced with holes on the under side. These 
holes drip oil on to an asbestos burner. The blubber is 
placed in a tank suitably built around the chimney ; the 
overflow of oil from this tank leads to the feed pipe in the 
stove, with a cock to regulate the flow. A very simple 
device, but as has been shown a very effective one ; the 
stove gives great heat, but, of course, some blubber smell. 
However, with such stoves in the South one would never 
lack cooked food or warm hut. 
Discussed with Wright the fact that the hummocks 
on sea ice always yield fresh water. We agreed that the 
brine must simply run down out of the ice. It will be 
interesting to bring up a piece of sea ice and watch this 
process. But the fact itself is interesting as showing that 
the process producing the hummock is really producing 
fresh water. It may also be noted as a phenomenon 
which makes all the difference to the ice navigator. 6 
Truly the getting to our winter quarters is no light 
task ; at first the gales and heavy seas, and now this 
continuous fight with the pack ice. 
