certainly tried her thoroughly, for the pack which we have come
through couldn't have been looked at by Ross even with a gale of
wind behind him.'

Necessarily progress became slow, but life abounds in the pack, and
the birds that came to visit the ship were a source of perpetual
interest. The pleasantest and most constant of these visitors was
the small snow petrel, with its dainty snow-white plumage relieved
only by black beak and feet, and black, beady eye. These little
birds abound in the pack-ice, but the blue-grey southern fulmar
and the Antarctic petrel were also to be seen, and that unwholesome
scavenger, the giant petrel, frequently lumbered by; while the skua
gull, most pugnacious of bullies, occasionally flapped past, on
his way to make some less formidable bird disgorge his hard-earned
dinner.

The squeak of the penguin was constantly heard, at
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first afar and often long before the birds were seen. Curiosity
drew them to the ship, and as she forced her way onward these little
visitors would again and again leap into the water, and journey
from floe to floe in their eagerness to discover what this strange
apparition could be. Some of the sailors became very expert in
imitating their calls, and could not only attract them from a long
distance, but would visibly add to their astonishment when they
approached. These were busy days for the penguins.

In all parts of the pack seals are plentiful and spend long hours
asleep on the floes. The commonest kind is the crab-eater or white
seal, but the Ross seal is not rare, and there and there is found