They promptly hopped on to the ice, turned
round, bowed gracefully three times, and retired to the far side of the
floe. There is something curiously human about the manners and
movements of these birds. I was concerned about the dogs. They were
losing condition and some of them appeared to be ailing. One dog had
to be shot on the 12th. We did not move the ship on the 14th. A
breeze came from the east in the evening, and under its influence the
pack began to work off shore. Before midnight the close ice that had
barred our way had opened and left a lane along the foot of the
barrier. I decided to wait for the morning, not wishing to risk getting
caught between the barrier and the pack in the event of the wind
changing. A sounding gave 1357 fathoms, with a bottom of glacial mud.
The noon observation showed the position to be lat. 74° 09? S., long.
27° 16? W. We cast off at 6 a.m. on the 15th in hazy weather with a
north-easterly breeze, and proceeded along the barrier in open water.
The course was south-east for sixteen miles, then south-south-east. We
now had solid pack to windward, and at 3 p.m. we passed a bight
probably ten miles deep and running to the north-east. A similar bight
appeared at 6 p.m. These deep cuts strengthened the impression we had
already formed that for several days we had been rounding a great mass
of ice, at least fifty miles across, stretching out from the coast and
possibly destined to float away at some time in the future.
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