eally
big floes at all; "the sheets of thin ice are broken into comparatively
regular figures, none more than thirty yards across," and "we are
steaming amongst floes of small area evidently broken by swell, and with
edges abraded by contact."[83]

We could not be far from the southern edge of the pack. Twenty-four hours
after raising steam we were still making good progress, checking
sometimes to carve our way through some obstacle. At last we were getting
a return for the precious coal expended. The sky was overcast, the
outlook from the masthead flat and dreary, but hour by hour it became
more obvious that we neared the threshold of the open sea. At 1 A.M. on
Friday, December 30 (lat. about 711/2 deg. S., noon observation 72 deg. 17' S.,
177 deg. 9' E.) Bowers steered through the last ice stream. Behind was some
400 miles of ice. Cape Crozier was 334 miles (geog.) ahead.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. p. 6.

[41] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. p. 7.

[42] Ibid. p. 9.

[43] Ibid. p. 8.

[44] Wilson in the _Discovery Natural History Reports._

[45] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 11-12.

[46] Wilson's Journal.

[47] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 14-15.

[48] Raper, _Practice of Navigation_, article 547.

[49] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. p. 13.

[50] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 21-22.

[51] Ibid. pp. 24-25.

[52] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. p. 2.

[53] My own diary.

[54] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. p. 25.

[55] Ibid. p. 60.

[56] Wilson.

[57] Wilson, _Discovery Natural History Report_, vol. ii. part ii.
p. 38.

[58] Wilson's Journal.

[59] Levick, _Antarctic Penguins_, p. 83.

[60] Levick, _Antarctic Penguins_, p. 85.

[61] Wilson in the _Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology_,
vol. ii. part i. p. 44.

[62] _Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology_, vol. ii. part i.
Wilson, pp. 32, 33.

[63] Ibid. p. 33.

[64] _Antarctic Manual: Seals_, by Barrett-Hamilton, p. 216.

[65] Ibid. p. 217.

[66] _Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology_, vol. ii. part i.
by E. A. Wilson, p. 36.

[67] _Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology_, vol. ii. part i.
by E. A. Wilson.

[68] _Terra Nova Natural History Report, Cetacea_, vol. i. No. 3,
p. 111