Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/167

On June 22 we celebrated Midwinter Day with the usual festivities.

July 10.—The days are already a little lighter, and we are making ready our sledging equipment, for on the 28th of this month I propose making an expedition into Robertson Bay for a week to see what sort of surface to expect up the coast, the pressure all round our beach and Cape Adare being very bad.

We have seen several Antarctic petrels, and it is hard to account for these birds down here in the middle of winter, unless there is open water a little north of us.

July 29.—Priestley, Abbott, and I left the hut for our short expedition into Robertson Bay.

Taking provisions for a fortnight, we left about 8 a.m., when it was beginning to get light. The surface was appalling, and in spite of our light sledge (400 lbs.) it took us three days to reach Duke of York Island, a distance of 22 miles by the route we took to avoid the bad pressure. The salt-flecked smooth ice, being very sticky, was much heavier going even than the pressure ice.

We spent a day at Duke of York Island collecting, and started back at daybreak, August 2. During the day the weather looked so threatening I made for the cliffs just south of Warning Glacier to get some shelter in case of a blizzard. We got some heavy squalls and drift in the afternoon, which nearly made us camp, but keeping on we reached land about 5.30, camping between two high pressure ridges under the cliffs. The noise of the wind in the bay was terrific, and we were thankful to have got some shelter. After supper we