COLD FOLLOWS BLIZZARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 782, 1 October 1929, Page 9

COLD FOLLOWS BLIZZARD

BUT SUN SHINES BRIGHTLY IN ANTARCTIC SEALS WELCOME THE SPRING f —: By RUSSELL OWEN Copyrighted, 1928, by the “New York Times” company and the St. Louis “PostDispatch.” All rights for publication throughout the world. Wireless to the “New York Times.” BAY OP WHALES, Sunday. 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 we face it, but it has little effect in this cold drift of air from the south. Yesterday it extended as high as the meteorologists could trace it with their balloon. There are many signs, however, that spring is not far off, because in the brief interval between the blizzard and the cold wave it was so warm that seals came out on the bay ice in great numbers. Men went far out on the bay toward the sea until they reached a point within a mile of a curtain of sea-smoke, beyond which they could see nothing. They saw hundreds of seals basking in the sun, mostly on new ice which extends to a point about 14 miles north of our base to a point where the bay ends at the East Cape of the Barrier. This ice is broken and heaped up by pressure. In the pressure holes are the places where the seals come up to breathe. They crawl out when the weather is not too cold. Many cf them are crab-eaters. They are the 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 ou the trail will be able to get plenty of it before they leave.