When we picked ourselves up at the bottom we were not more than 1500 ft. above the sea.  The slope was comparatively easy.  Water was running beneath the snow, making “pockets” between the rocks that protruded above the white surface.  The shells of snow over these pockets were traps for our feet; but we scrambled down, and presently came to patches of tussock.  A few minutes later we reached the sandy beach.  The tracks of some animals were to be seen, and we were puzzled until I remembered that reindeer, brought from Norway, had been placed on the island and now ranged along the lower land of the eastern coast.  We did not pause to investigate.  Our minds were set upon reaching the haunts of man, and at our best speed we went along the beach to another rising ridge of tussock.  Here we saw the first evidence of the proximity of man, whose work, as is so often the ease, was one of destruction.  A recently killed seal was lying there, and presently we saw several other bodies bearing the marks of bullet-wounds.  I learned later that men from the whaling-station at Stromness sometimes go round to Fortuna Bay by boat to shoot seals.

Noon found us well up the slope on the other side of the bay working east-south-east, and half an hour later we were on a flat plateau, with one more ridge to cross before we descended into Husvik.  I was leading the way over this plateau when I suddenly found myself up to my knees in water and quickly sinking deeper through the snow-crust.  I flung myself down and called to the others to do the same, so as to distribute our weight on the treacherous surface.  We were on top of a small lake, snow-covered.  After lying still for a few moments we got to our feet and walked delicately, like Agag, for 200 yds., until a rise in the surface showed us that we were clear of the lake.

At 1.30 p.m. we climbed round a final ridge and saw a little steamer, a whaling-boat, entering the bay 2500 ft, below.  A few moments later, as we hurried forward, the masts of a sailing-ship lying at a wharf came in sight.  Minute figures moving to and fro about the boats caught our gaze, and then we saw the sheds and factory of Stromness whaling-station.  We paused and shook hands, a form of mutual congratulation that had seemed necessary on four other occasions in the course of the expedition.  The first time was when we landed on Elephant Island, the second when we reached South Georgia, and the third when we reached the ridge and saw the snow-slope stretching below on the first day of the overland journey, then when we saw Husvik rocks.