th Magnetic Pole, and I was anxious
to have our magnetographs running as near the latter as possible.
Secondly, we would be daily increasing our distance from Macquarie
Island, making wireless communication more uncertain.

At noon on January 8, while I was weighing the pros and cons with
Captain Davis, Wild came in to say that there was a rocky exposure about
fifteen miles off on the port side, and suggested altering our course to
obtain a better view of it.

Just after 4 P.M., when the ship was about one mile from the nearest
rocks, the whale-boat was lowered and manned. We rowed in with the
object of making a closer investigation. From the ship's deck, even when
within a mile, the outcrop had appeared to project directly from under
the inland ice-sheet. Now, however, we were surprised to find ourselves
amongst an archipelago of islets. These were named the Mackellar Islets,
in remembrance of one who had proved a staunch friend of the Expedition.

Weddell seals and Adelie penguins in thousands rested upon the rocks;
the latter chiefly congregated upon a long, low, bare islet situated in
the centre. This was the largest of the group, measuring about half a
mile in length; others were not above twenty yards in diameter. As we
came inshore, the main body of the archipelago was found to be separated
by a mile and a half from the mainland. A point which struck us at the
time was that the islets situated on the southern side of the group were
capped by unique masses of ice; resembling iced cakes. Later we were
able to see them in process of formation. In the violent southerly
hurricanes prevalent in Adelie Land, the spray breaks right over them.
Part of it is deposited and frozen, and by increments the icing of these
monstrous "cakes" is built up. The amount contributed in winter makes
up for loss by thawing in midsummer. As the islets to windward shelter
those in their lee, the latter are destitute of these natural canopies.

Soundings were taken at frequent intervals with a hand lead-line,
manipulated by Madigan. The water was on the whole shallow, varying
from a few to twenty fathoms. The bottom was clothed by dense, luxuriant
seaweed. This rank growth along the littoral was unexpected, for nothing
of the kind exists on the Ross Sea coasts within five or six fathoms of
the surface.

Advancing towards the mainland, we observed a small islet amongst the
rocks, and towards it the boat was directed. We were soon inside a