directly afterwards the gale broke and it was raining, with little wind,
during the day.

The morning watch had a merry time on Tuesday, September 13, when a fresh
gale struck them while they were squaring yards. So unexpected was it
that the main yards were squared and the fore were still round, but it
did not last long and was followed by two splendid days--fine weather
with sun, a good fair wind and the swell astern.

[Illustration: THE ROARING FORTIES--E. A. Wilson, del.]

The big swell which so often prevails in these latitudes is a most
inspiring sight, and must be seen from a comparatively small ship like
the Terra Nova for its magnitude to be truly appreciated. As the ship
rose on the crest of one great hill of water the next big ridge was
nearly a mile away, with a sloping valley between. At times these seas
are rounded in giant slopes as smooth as glass; at others they curl over,
leaving a milk-white foam, and their slopes are marbled with a beautiful
spumy tracery. Very wonderful are these mottled waves: with a following
sea, at one moment it seems impossible that the great mountain which is
overtaking the ship will not overwhelm her, at another it appears
inevitable that the ship will fall into the space over which she seems to
be suspended and crash into the gulf which lies below.

But the seas are so long that they are neither dangerous nor
uncomfortable--though the Terra Nova rolled to an extraordinary extent,
quite constantly over 50° each way, and sometimes 55°.

The cooks, however, had a bad time trying to cook for some fifty hands in
the little galley on the open deck. Poor Archer's efforts to make bread