or turned over. We noticed all sorts of quaint effects, such as huge
bubbles or domes of ice, 40 ft. across and 4 or 5 ft. high. Large
sinuous pancake-sheets were spread over the floe in places, and in one
spot we counted five such sheets, each about 2½ in. thick, imbricated
under one another. They look as though made of barley-sugar and are
very slippery."

The noon position on the 14th was lat. 76° 54´ S., long. 36° 10´ W.
The land was visible faintly to the south-east, distant about 36 miles.
A few small leads could be seen from the ship, but the ice was firm in
our neighbourhood. The drift of the 'Endurance' was still towards the
north-west.

I had the boilers blown down on the 15th, and the consumption of 2
cwt. of coal per day to keep the boilers from freezing then ceased. The
bunkers still contained 52 tons of coal, and the daily consumption in
the stoves was about 2½ cwt. There would not be much coal left for
steaming purposes in the spring, but I anticipated eking out the supply
with blubber. A moderate gale from the north-east on the 17th brought
fine, penetrating snow. The weather cleared in the evening, and a
beautiful crimson sunset held our eyes. At the same time the ice-
cliffs of the land were thrown up in the sky by mirage, with an
apparent reflection in open water, though the land itself could not be
seen definitely. The effect was repeated in an exaggerated form on the
following day, when the ice-cliffs were thrown up above the horizon in
double and treble parallel lines, some inverted. The mirage was due
probably to lanes of open water near the land. The water would be
about 30° warmer than the air and would cause warmed strata to ascend.
A sounding gave 606 fathoms, with a bottom of glacial mud. Six days
later, on the 24th, the depth was 419 fathoms. We were drifting