66 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [D 
movement and exercise is afforded by the open deck on 
which the sick animal now stands. 
If we can get through the ice in the coming effort we 
may get all the ponies through safely, but there would be 
no great cause for surprise if we lost two or three more. 
These animals are now the great consideration, balanced 
as they arc against the coal expenditure. 
This morning a number of penguins were diving for 
food around and under the ship. It is the first time 
they have come so close to the ship in the pack, and there 
can be little doubt that the absence of motion of the 
propeller has made them bold. 
The Adelie penguin on land or ice is almost wholly 
ludicrous. Whether sleeping, quarrelling, or playing, 
whether curious, frightened, or angry, its interest is con- 
tinuously humorous; but the Adclic penguin in the water 
is another thing : as it darts to and fro a fathom or two 
below the surface, as it leaps porpoise-like into the air 
or swims skimmingly over the rippling surface of a pool, 
it excites nothing but admiration. Its speed probably 
appears greater than it is, but the ability to twist and turn 
and the general control of movement is both beautiful and 
wonderful. 
As one looks across the barren stretches of the pack, 
it is sometimes difficult to realise what teeming life exists 
immediately beneath its surface. 
A tow-net is filled with diatoms in a very short space of 
time, showing that the floating plant life is many times 
richer than that of temperate or tropic seas. These 
diatoms mostly consist of three or four well-known species. 
