ANTARCTIC WEATHER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20374, 1 October 1929, Page 9

ANTARCTIC WEATHER.

COLD after a blizzard. SEALS BEGIN TO APPEAR. (Received September 30, 6.15 p.m.) United Service. NEW YORK, Sept. 20. LBy Mr. Russell Owen. Copyrighted 1028 by the New York Times Company and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the New York Times.] BAY OF WHALES, Sept. 20. A blizzard which lasted a few days has been followed by an unexpected cold spell. The thermometer now is hovering between ,50 and 60 degrees below zero. The sky has been clear for two days and the sun is shining brilliantly. Its warmth can be felt when wo face it, but it has little effect in this cold drift of air from tho south. Yesterday it extended as high as the meteorologists could trace it with their balloon.

There liro many signs, however, that spring is not far off, because in tho brief interval between tho blizzard and tho cold wave it was so warm that seals came out on tho bay ice in great numbers. Men went far out on tho bay toward tho sea until they reached a point within a mile of a curtain of sea-smoke, beyond which they could seo nothing. They saw hundreds of seals basking in tho sun, mostly on new ice which extends to a point about 14 miles north of our base to a point where tho bay ends at tho East Cape of the Barrier. This ice is broken and heaped up by pressure. In the pressure holes are the places where tho seals come up to breathe. They crawl out when tho weather is not too cold. Many of them are crabeaters. Thev are tho most edible, and one of them was killed and brought back to the camp. It tasted good—very much like an ordinary round of steak when cooked well with dehydrated onions. Seal is valuable, as is all fresh meat, for its vitamin content, and the men who go out on the trail will bo able to get plenty of it before they leave.