chens on
oversell rocks and mosses which grew luxuriantly, chiefly in the Adelie
penguin rookeries.

Weddell seals were plentiful about the island near the tide-cracks; two
of them with calves.

Though the continuous bad weather made photography impossible, Hoadley
was able to make a thorough geological examination of the locality. On
December 2 the clouds cleared sufficiently for photography, and after
securing some snapshots we prepared to move on the next day. Dovers
built a small cairn on the summit of the island and took angles to the
outlying rocks.

On the 3rd we packed our specimens and left for the mainland at 9.30
A.M., arriving at the land ice-cliffs at 2 P.M. The snow surface was
soft, even slushy in places, and the heat amongst the bergs along the
coast of the mainland was very oppressive. After we had dug out the
second sledge and re-arranged the loads, the hour was too late for
sledging, so Dovers took another observation in order to obtain the rate
of the half-chronometer watch. While on the island, we had examined the
coast to the west with glasses and concluded that the only way to get
westward was to ascend to a considerable altitude on the ice-cap,
which, as far as the eye could reach, descended to the sea-level in
long cascades and falls. We had expected to place a depot somewhere near
Haswell Island, but such procedure was now deemed inadvisable in view of
its distance from what would probably be our direct return route.

A start was made next day against an opposing wind, the sledges being
relayed up a steep hillside. Later on, however, a turn was made more
to the west, and it was then possible to haul both sledges at the same
time. The surface was soft, so that after every halt the runners had to
be cleared. The distance for the day was five and a half miles, and the
night's camp was at an altitude of about one thousand five hundred feet,
located just above the broken coastal ice.

During December 5 and 6 a snowstorm raged and confined us to our tent.
The high temperature caused the falling snow to melt as it touched the
tent, and, when the temperature fell, the cloth became thickly coated
with ice.

On the 7th the march was resumed, by skirting a small valley at an
approximate altitude of two thousand feet. The ice-cap ahead descended
in abrupt falls to the floe. Having a fair wind and a smooth surface, we
made good headway. In the afternoon we ran into a plexus of crevasses,
and the sur