Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 1.djvu/384

250 but I'm rapidly altering my opinion; we may miss the hill climbing here, but in every direction there is abundance of interest. To-day I walked round the shores of the North Bay examining the kenyte cliffs and great masses of morainic material of the Barne Glacier, then on under the huge blue ice cliffs of the Glacier itself. With the sunset lights, deep shadows, the black islands and white bergs it was all very beautiful.

Simpson and Bowers sent up a balloon to-day with a double thread and instrument attached; the line was checked at about 3 miles, and soon after the instrument was seen to disengage. The balloon at first went north with a light southerly breeze till it reached 300 or 400 feet, then it turned to the south but did not travel rapidly; when 2 miles of thread had gone it seemed to be going north again or rising straight upward.

In the afternoon Simpson and Bowers went to recover their treasure, but somewhere south of Inaccessible Island they found the thread broken and the light was not good enough to continue the search.

The sides of the galley fire have caved in—there should have been checks to prevent this; we got some fireclay cement to-day and plastered up the sides. I hope this will get over the difficulty, but have some doubt.

Wednesday, April 26—Calm. Went round Cape Evans—remarkable effects of icicles on the ice foot, formed by spray of southerly gales.

Thursday, April 27.—The fourth day in succession without wind, but overcast. Light snow has fallen during the day—to-night the wind comes from the north.