cise, and every one enjoyed the shift below, "trucking"and
"heaving." Another undoubted advantage, in the opinion of each worker,
was that he could at least demand a wash from Chief Engineer Gillies,
who at other times was forced to be thrifty with hot fresh water.

After supper on the 28th it was evident that we had reached a point
where the shelf-ice veered away to the eastward and a wide tract of
adhering sea-ice barred the way. The floe was exceedingly heavy and
covered with a deep layer of soft snow. Emperor and Adelie penguins,
crab-eater and Weddell seals were recognized through glasses along its
edge. As there was a light obscuring fog and dusk was approaching, the
'Aurora' "hung up" for the night.

On January 29 the ship, after a preliminary trawling had been done in
three hundred and twenty fathoms, pushed into the floe and was made
fast with an ice-anchor. Emperor penguins were so plentiful in the
neighbourhood that many specimens were secured for skins.

A sea-leopard was seen chasing a crab-eater seal quite close to the bow
of the ship. The latter, after several narrow escapes, took refuge on an
ice-foot projecting from the edge of the floe.

Advantage was taken of a clearing in the weather to walk over the
sea-ice to a berg two and a half miles away, from the summit of which
it was hoped that some sign of land might be apparent. Away in the
distance, perhaps five miles further on, could be seen an immense
congregation of Emperor Penguins--evidently another rookery. No certain
land was visible.

The cruise was now continued to the north-west in order to skirt a
collection of bergs and floe, with the ultimate object of proceeding
in an easterly direction towards Termination Ice-Tongue at the northern
limit of the Shackleton Shelf-Ice.

A glance at the map which illustrates the work done by the Western Party
affords the best idea of the great ice-formation which stretches away
to the north of Queen Mary Land. It is very similar in character to the
well-known Ross Barrier over which lay part of Scott's and Amundsen's
journeys to the South Pole. Its height is remarkably uniform, ranging
from sixty to one hundred feet above the water-level. When allowance
has been made for average specific gravity, its average total thickness
should approximate to six hundred feet. From east to west the formation
was proved to be as much as two hundred miles, with one hundred and
eighty miles between its northern and south