ake in the
vicinity about half a mile long and to all appearances very deep. It lay
between two steep hills, and the grassy bank at one end and the small
sloping approach at the other gave it an artificial appearance, while
the water was beautifully clear and perfectly fresh. At the sloping end,
dozens of skuas were busily engaged washing themselves and the flapping
of their wings in the water made a remarkable noise, audible at a
considerable distance on the hill-tops. On returning to the hut at Sandy
Bay several rabbits secured by Mac were cleaned and put on to boil.

Next morning a dense mist shrouded the island till about 11 A.M., but
the weather becoming fine and bright, we started for the west coast
about noon. During our progress along the bed of a creek, Blake
discovered what was believed to be a glacial deposit containing fossil
bones, and considerable time was spent in examining this and attempting
to extract whole specimens, thereby making it too late to proceed to the
west. On returning to the hut we decided to pack the swags. We reached
home just in time for tea, finding that nothing unusual had occurred
during our four days' absence.

Hamilton and Blake went out fishing in the dinghy on the 9th and made
a remarkable haul of fish, sixty in number, ranging in size from a few
ounces to twelve and a half pounds. They were all of the same species,
somewhat resembling rock cod, but as usual they were covered with
external parasites, and their flesh was full of worm-cysts. Hamilton
preserved a number of them and the rest were cooked, but we did not
relish them very much and the one meal was enough.

On December 11 we had a hard gale all day, the anemometer recording
"bursts" of over fifty miles an hour frequently, while the average
exceeded forty miles an hour throughout. Twelve months ago on that
day we had made our first landing on the island from the 'Aurora', but
vastly different weather conditions prevailed at the time.

Christmas Day was now very close at hand, and as Blake and Hamilton were
going to celebrate at the other end of the island, whence they had
gone on the 10th, Sawyer, Sandell and I arranged a little "spread" for
ourselves. Sawyer produced a cake which he had received in the recent
mail, and some friend had forwarded a plum pudding to Sandell, so on
Christmas Day these, with a boiled ham, some walnuts, mince rolls and a
bottle of stout were spread on the table, which had been decorated
wit