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to photograph the phenomena, but unluckily failed to get any results. We started again our fish trap, which was let down by digging a hole through the ice; this was at first successful and we had a fair number of fish. The flesh of these fish was so sweet that they were, in the ordinary way, quite unpleasant eating. Archer, by soaking them first in vinegar and water, made them much more palatable. Keohane and Williamson, after a great deal of trouble, caught some of these same fish by hook and line.

On May 25 we had some slight excitement. Wright needed a lamp to heat his magnetic hut, and Nelson and he, while experimenting with one and increasing the pressure in the lamp to give a better flare, unluckily managed to burst it. Immediately the whole end of the table and part of the floor was a mass of flames. With blankets and a fire extinguisher these were soon put out and no harm done. Nelson, whose face was down by the lamp when the explosion occurred, had a very lucky escape. Our fish trap, which had been failing in the number of fish caught each day, was blown out to sea with the ice from the North Bay. This was a serious loss, but we managed with some wire, iron bars, and two hoops to make another but smaller one. About this time some of the geological specimens which had been brought back by the first and second return parties were handed over to Debenham. These had mainly been collected in the scattered moraine under the Cloudmaker. To his surprise and joy several fossils of plants and small marine animals were found in some of these.