422 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
seemed doubtful whether it could have been visible from 
the most westerly point reached by the Vincennes, and 
gives it no name on his map. A severe storm came on; 
ice drifted round the Gauss and held her fast; great ice- 
bergs came up and ringed her round and it was impos- 
sible to get forward or to go back. Preparations had 
to be made for wintering in the floe. A house was built 
out of solid blocks of ice to serve as a magnetic observa- 
tory; an astronomical observatory was also built, and 
meteorological instruments set up on the ice. After the 
middle of March when the position of the ship seemed 
unlikely to alter, sledging parties were sent out, and one 
of these travelling southward over the ice reached the 
land in three days and a half, and discovered a hill rising 
black and steep above the ice fifty miles from the ship. 
The height of this hill was estimated at about 1,000 feet, 
and it was named the Gaussberg. March 29th was a 
beautiful day, calm and clear. The captive balloon was 
inflated, and Drygalski ascended to a height exceeding 
1,500 feet. He remained aloft for two hours photo- 
graphing the ice and examining the horizon. The high 
land to the east was seen to be entirely ice-covered, and 
to the south the black cone of the Gaussberg stood up 
from the margin of an ice-clad land which rose behind 
it to a greater elevation and extended far to east and 
west. This was named Kaiser Wilhelm II. Land. 
Before winter set in a band of emperor penguins ap- 
peared, floundering clumsily over the ice to examine the 
strange creatures who had invaded their domain. Other 
sledging parties went out and crossed the floe in various 
directions to the land, just entering the Antarctic region 
proper which the Gauss, sealed in the floe north of the 
circle, never penetrated. The winter was passed in dili- 
