the pack-ice could not be far off.  We were all longing as one man to be in it; it would be a grand variation in the monotonous life we had led for so long, and which we were beginning to be a little tired of.  Merely to be able to run a few yards on an ice-floe appeared to us an event of importance, and we rejoiced no less at the prospect of giving our dogs a good meal of seal’s flesh, while we ourselves would have no objection to a little change of diet.

The number of icebergs increased during the afternoon and night, and with such neighbours it suited us very well to have daylight all through the twenty-four hours, as we now had.  The weather could not have been better —­ fine and clear, with a light but still favourable wind.  At 8 p.m. on January 2 the Antarctic Circle was crossed, and an hour or two later the crow’s-nest was able to report the ice-belt ahead.  For the time being it did not look like obstructing us to any great extent; the floes were collected in long lines, with broad channels of open water between them.  We steered right in.  Our position was then long. 176deg.  E. and lat. 66deg. 30’ S. The ice immediately stopped all swell, the vessel’s deck again became a stable platform, and after two months’ incessant exercise of our sea-legs we could once more move about freely.  That was a treat in itself.

At nine in the morning of the next day we had our first opportunity of seal-hunting; a big Weddell seal was observed on a floe right ahead.  It took our approach with the utmost calmness, not thinking it worth while to budge an inch until a couple of rifle-bullets had convinced it of the seriousness of the situation.  It then made an attempt to reach the water, but it was too late.  Two men were already on the floe, and the valuable spoil was secured.  In the course of a quarter of an hour the beast lay on our deck, flayed and cut up by practised hands; this gave us at one stroke at least four hundredweight of dog food, as well as a good many rations for men.  We made the same coup three times more in the course of the day, and thus had over a ton of fresh meat and blubber.

It need scarcely be said that there was a great feast on board that day.  The dogs did their utmost to avail themselves of the opportunity; they simply ate till their legs would no longer carry them, and we could grant them this gratification with a good conscience.  As to ourselves, it may doubtless be taken for granted that we observed some degree of moderation, but dinner was polished off very quickly.  Seal steak had many ardent adherents already, and it very soon gained more.  Seal soup, in which our excellent vegetables showed to advantage, was perhaps even more favourably received.