shall have to go back to travelling by night, as the snow
is so very soft down here during the day; not soft in the same way as
the freshly fallen powdery stuff we had on the hills, but half-thawed
and wet, freezing at night into a splendid surface for the runners.
The shade temperature at 5.30 P.M. to-day was 29 degrees F., and a
thermometer laid in the sun on the dark rocks went up to 87 degrees F.

"Some time ago, a plum-pudding was found in one of our food-bags,
put there, I believe, by Moyes. We ate it to-night in addition to the
ordinary ration, and, with a small taste of spirits from the medical
store, managed to get up quite a festive feeling. After dinner the Union
Jack and Australian Ensign were hoisted on the rocks and I formally took
possession of the land in the name of the Expedition, for King George V.
and the Australian Commonwealth."

Queen Mary Land is the name which, by gracious sanction, was eventually
affixed to that area of new land.

Night marches commenced at 1 A.M. on December 27. The sail was hoisted
for the first time and the fresh breeze was of great assistance. We
were once more down on the low peninsula and on its highest point, two
hundred feet above the shelf-ice, Kennedy took a round of angles.

Along the margin of the shelf the crevasses were innumerable and, as the
sun was hot and the snow soft and mushy, we pitched camp about six miles
from the bluff on David Island.

At 6 A.M. on the 28th we rounded the bluff and camped under its leeward
face. After lunch there was a hunt for snow petrels. Fifty-six were
caught and the eggs, which all contained chicks, were given to the dogs.

It was my intention to touch at all the rocks on the mainland on the way
home, as time and weather permitted. Under a light easterly breeze we
scudded along with sail set and passed close to several outcrops. Watson
examined them, finding gneiss and granite principally, one type being
an exceptionally coarse granite, very much weathered. A mile of bad
crevasses caused some delay; one of the dogs having a fall of twelve
feet into one abyss.

Next day, the Hippo hove in sight and we found the depoted food in good
condition. The course had been over high pressure-waves and in some
places we had to diverge on account of crevasses and--fresh water! Many
of the hollows contained water from thawed snow, and in others there was
a treacherous crust which hid a slushy pool. The march of eighteen miles
landed us j