38 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[Dkcf.mber 
floes are melting ; everything of that sort must help — 
but it's trying to the patience to be delayed like this. 
We have seen enough to know that with a north-westerly 
or westerly wind the floes tend to pack and that they open 
when it is calm. The question is, will they open more 
with an easterly or south-easterly wind — that is the hope. 
Signs of open water round and about are certainly 
increasing rather than diminishing. 
Friday, December 16. — The wind sprang up from the 
N.E. this morning, bringing snow, thin light hail, and 
finally rain ; it grew very thick and has remained so 
all day. 
Early the floe on which we had done so much ski-ing 
broke up, and we gathered in our ice anchors, then put 
on head sail, to which she gradually paid off. With a fair 
wind we set sail on the foremast, and slowly but surely she 
pushed the heavy floes aside. At lunch time we entered 
a long lead of open water, and for nearly half an hour we 
sailed along comfortably in it. Entering the pack again, 
we found the floes much lighter and again pushed on 
slowly. In all we may have made as much as three miles. 
I have observed for some time some floes of immense 
area forming a chain of lakes in this pack, and have been 
most anxious to discover their thickness. They are most 
certainly the result of the freezing of comparatively recent 
pools in the winter pack, and it follows that they must be 
getting weaker day by day. If one could be certain, 
first, that these big areas extend to the south, and, 
secondly, that the ship could go through them, it would 
be worth getting up steam. We have arrived at the 
