70 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [December 
Yesterday afternoon it became darkly overcast with 
falling snow. The barometer fell on a very steep gradient 
and the wind increased to force 6 from the E.N.E. In 
the evening the snow fell heavily and the glass still galloped 
down. In any other part of the world one would have 
felt certain of a coming gale. But here by experience we 
know that the barometer gives little indication of wind. 
Throughout the afternoon and evening the water holes 
became more frequent and we came along at a fine speed. 
At the end of the first watch we were passing through 
occasional streams of ice ; the wind had shifted to north 
and the barometer had ceased to fall. In the middle 
watch the snow held up, and soon after — I a.m. — Bowers 
steered through the last ice stream. 
At six this morning wc were well in the open sea, the 
sky thick and overcast with occasional patches of fog. 
Wc passed one small berg on the starboard hand with 
a group of Antarctic petrels on one side and a group of 
snow petrels on the other. It is evident that these birds 
rely on sea and swell to cast their food up on ice ledges — 
only a few find sustenance in the pack where, though 
food is plentiful, it is not so easily come by. A flight of 
Antarctic petrel accompanied the ship for some distance, 
wheeling to and fro about her rather than following in 
the wake as do the more northerly sea birds. 
It is [good] to escape from the captivity of the pack 
and to feel that a few days will see us at Cape Crozier, 
but it is sad to remember the terrible inroad which the 
fight of the last fortnight has made on our coal supply. 
2 p.m. — The wind failed in the forenoon. Sails were 
