are in great form again; for them the greatest circumstance
of discomfort is to be constantly wet. It was this circumstance
prolonged throughout the gale which nearly lost us our splendid leader
'Osman.' In the morning he was discovered utterly exhausted and only
feebly trembling; life was very nearly out of him. He was buried in
hay, and lay so for twenty-four hours, refusing food--the wonderful
hardihood of his species was again shown by the fact that within
another twenty-four hours he was to all appearance as fit as ever.

Antarctic petrels have come about us. This afternoon one was caught.

Later, about 7 P.M. Evans saw two icebergs far on the port beam; they
could only be seen from the masthead. Whales have been frequently
seen--Balaenoptera Sibbaldi--supposed to be the biggest mammal that
has ever existed._4_

_Friday, December_ 9.--65 deg. 8'. 177 deg. 41'. Made good S. 4 W. 109';
Scott Island S. 22 W. 147'. At six this morning bergs and pack were
reported ahead; at first we thought the pack might consist only of
fragments of the bergs, but on entering a stream we found small worn
floes--the ice not more than two or three feet in thickness. 'I had
hoped that we should not meet it till we reached latitude 66 1/2 or
at least 66.' We decided to work to the south and west as far as the
open water would allow, and have met with some success. At 4 P.M.,
as I write, we are still in open water, having kept a fairly straight
course and come through five or six light streams of ice, none more
than 300 yards across.

We have passed some very beautiful bergs, mostly tabular. The heights
have varied from 60 to 80 feet, and I am getting to think that this
part of the Antarctic yields few bergs of greater altitude.

Two bergs deserve some description. One, passed very close on port
hand in order that it might be cinematographed, was about 80 feet in
height, and tabular. It seemed to have been calved at a comparatively
recent date.

The above picture shows its peculiarities, and points to the
desirability of close examination of other berg faces. There seemed
to be a distinct difference of origin between the upper and lower
portions of the berg, as though a land glacier had been covered by
layer after layer of seasonal snow. Then again, what I have described
as 'intrusive layers of blue ice' was a remarkable feature; one
could imagine that these layers represent surfaces which have been
transformed by regelation under ho