long; he weighed 600 lbs.
Shortly before noon further progress was barred by heavy pack, and we put an ice-anchor on the floe and banked the fires.

I had been prepared for evil conditions in the Weddell Sea, but had hoped that in December and January, at any rate, the pack would be loose, even if no open water was to be found.

What we were actually encountering was fairly dense pack of a very obstinate character.

Pack-ice might be described as a gigantic and interminable jigsaw-puzzle devised by nature.

The parts of the puzzle in loose pack have floated slightly apart and become disarranged; at numerous places they have pressed together again; as the pack gets closer the congested areas grow larger and the parts are jammed harder till finally it becomes "close pack," when the whole of the jigsaw-puzzle becomes jammed to such an extent that with care and labour it can be traversed in every direction on foot.