of exploring this new realm was to be deferred. Even as
we raised the tent, the wind commenced to whistle and the air became
surcharged with snow. Three skua gulls squatted a few yards away,
squawking at our approach, and a few snow petrels sailed by in the
gathering blizzard.

Through the 6th, 7th and 8th and most of the 9th it raged, during which
time we came definitely to the conclusion that as social entertainers
we were complete failures. We exhausted all the reserve topics of
conversation, discussed our Universities, sports, friends and homes. We
each described the scenery we liked best; notable always for the sunny
weather and perfect calm. McLean sailed again in Sydney Harbour, Correll
cycled and ran his races, I wandered in the South Australian hills or
rowed in the "eights," while the snow swished round the tent and the
wind roared over the wastes of ice.

Avoiding a few crevasses on the drop to sea-level on December 10, the
sledge was manoeuvred over a tide-crack between glacier and sea-ice. The
latter was traversed by frequent pressure-ridges; hummocks and broken
pinnacles being numerous.

The next six days out on the broken sea-ice were full of incident. The
weather was gloriously sunny till the 13th, during which time the sledge
had to be dragged through a forest of pinnacles and over areas of soft,
sticky slush which made the runners execrable for hours. Ponds of open
water, by which basked a few Weddell seals, became a familiar sight. We
tried to maintain a south-easterly course for the coast, but miles were
wasted in the tortuous maze of ice--"a wildering Theban ruin of hummock
and serrac."

The sledge-meter broke down and gave the ingenious Correll a proposition
which he ably solved. McLean and I had a chronic weakness of the eyes
from the continual glare. Looking at the other two fellows with their
long protruding goggles made me think of Banquo's ghost: "Thou hast no
speculation in those eyes that thou dost glare with."

I had noticed that some of the tide-cracks had opened widely and, when
a blizzard blew on December 13, the thought was a skeleton in my brain
cupboard.

On the 15th an Emperor penguin was seen sunning himself by a pool of
water, so we decided to kill the bird and carry some meat in case of
emergency. McLean found the stomach full of fish and myriads of cestodes
in the intestines.

By dint of hard toil over cracks, ridges and jagged, broken blocks, we
came, by diverging to th