The Assembled Discs of Ice Crystals which give Origin to Polar Ice.
We arose the next morning complaining somewhat of the cold, but this is the grievance of every first encampment. After three hours of cooking, chocolate was prepared, and with it we ate alpine biscuits. This was quite sufficient for our morning meal. Then we crawled out of our bags, took our furs from the snow under the bags, shook the snow out of them, and quickly dressed. Once in our travelling garments, though frozen and filled with fine dust-like snow, we soon felt comfortable and dry. Emerging from the camp we saw the sun about fifteen degrees east of north and close to the horizon, from which we concluded it was eleven o’clock. Our watches had refused to tell the time in the cold. The day was not promising, the sun was screened by an increasing mist and the horizon was everywhere indistinct. The pack was gray, and the leads black with many smoky zones on the sky, indicating a disruption of the ice and much pack movement. We were permitted a look at our projected journey’s end, the tabular iceberg, and from our position the way to it seemed simple enough. Its distance from us was about nine miles; it was 2,000 feet long and from 250 to 300 feet high, with a smooth upper surface and vertical cliffs; along the base, on the two sides visible to us, was a huge ice fort about 50 feet high and 100 feet wide. On this were fragments of ice mostly covered with snow, giving it an appearance of a smooth terrace. Here and there were huge fissures visible only at the top, and widening into a valley towards the base. These valleys were strewn with ponderous boulders of ice. There was no evidence of fresh fissures, no blue lines or stratas; everything wore a homogeneous mantle of unblemished purity.
The lead before us proved, on further examination, an impassable barrier for the time. It extended as far as the eye could penetrate to the east and to the west, a great polar river in a mid-polar sea of ice. In it were hundreds of whales, finbacks and bottlenoses, and countless seals, Weddell sea-leopards, and crab-eaters, but strangely enough no penguins. The new ice forming was not of sufficient strength to bear our weights, hence we returned to the tent to prepare our dinner, the last meal of the day. When it takes six hours to prepare one meal, one does not provide more than two, and in actual practice that is found sufficient.
An Iceberg Held by the Ensnaring Influence of the Pack-ice, Forming the So-called “Barrier.”
Finding that to cross the lead was quite impossible for a day or two, we decided to build a snow-house which is always preferable to a tent for a long stay. This was the second snow-house which we built in the antarctic, and the first in which men lived. It was constructed on the Eskimo model, conical in shape, like a bee-hive, with circular lines of blocks, each circle decreasing in size until the top, which is small enough to cover with one or two pieces. The Eskimo does this with an ordinary knife or a crescent-shaped instrument, made from a walrus tooth; but this requires much dexterity and some experience. I have always found that a small saw was better adapted for the purpose. With this, one can improve on Eskimo methods and build a much stronger igloo.
We selected a bank of driven snow with a hard consistency. To get a working edge here we first made a straight cut, then a slanting circular incision, raising the crescent out in pieces. Then we sawed another groove parallel to the first and cut this strip into blocks of a size easy to handle. Finally we passed the saw under the surface at the desired thickness, after which a slight touch from the hand or foot separated the block. There is no rule as to the size of the blocks; they must be cut according to the strength of the snow. Usually blocks one foot thick, two feet long, and eighteen inches wide are the most convenient. These can be transported on a sledge to any desired site for the igloo. Such a place is never far off. The man who builds the wall must be careful that the blocks of each succeeding circle will centre on the lines of meeting of the blocks below, a law well known in masonry. He must endeavour to keep the surface of the wall from sloping in or out, and every piece must rest firmly on each of its neighbours. When the igloo is finished there will be found many holes between the blocks, but these are easily filled from the outside. The door should be cut after the structure is erected. If the igloo is intended for a continued residence, a low arched entrance is necessary to keep out the sand-like blasts of fine snow.
Our sojourn in this particular house was very agreeable. It was an experience which I shall long remember. We placed the sledge sail on the snowy floor, and on it our sleeping bags. The only culinary articles which we used were fixed in terraces on the wall, or simply driven in the blocks. To undress and get into our bags in this house was an easy matter. Taking off everything but our underwear, we placed the travelling suit, including our boots, under the bags, and without more discomfort than a little snow down our backs we slid into the zenith of polar comfort, the sleeping-bag. The scene outside was dazzling beyond description; the scene inside was restful beyond all expectation. Through the crevices of the dome the sharp, silvery rays of the moon pierced and played in quivering beams and zones of colour. The pale blue sky, with its wealth of starry gems, was visible from one or two positions. A brisk, cold wind drove a little snow into our igloo and over our beds, but this did not disturb us. We wrote, read, and played cards by the aid of a candle, and at a time which we guessed to be eleven o’clock, we fell asleep.
Arctowski. Lecointe. Racovitza. Gerlache.