One side of the 'James Caird' rested on stones so as to
afford a low entrance, and when we had finished she looked as though
she had grown there. McCarthy entered into this work with great
spirit. A sea-elephant provided us with fuel and meat, and that evening
found a well-fed and fairly contented party at rest in Peggotty Camp.
Our camp, as I have said, lay on the north side of King Haakon Bay
near the head. Our path towards the whaling-stations led round the
seaward end of the snouted glacier on the east side of the camp and up
a snow-slope that appeared to lead to a pass in the great Allardyce
Range, which runs north-west and south-east and forms the main backbone
of South Georgia. The range dipped opposite the bay into a well-
defined pass from east to west. An ice-sheet covered most of the
interior, filling the valleys and disguising the configurations of the
land, which, indeed, showed only in big rocky ridges, peaks, and
nunataks. When we looked up the pass from Peggotty Camp the country to
the left appeared to offer two easy paths through to the opposite
coast, but we knew that the island was uninhabited at that point
(Possession Bay). We had to turn our attention farther east, and it
was impossible from the camp to learn much of the conditions that would
confront us on the overland journey.
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