After climbing the ice ridges, which rose along the shores of the mainland, they succeeded in reaching the land itself on October 18, though the only evidence of it was the appearance of some dark-coloured rocks which showed above the ice. They were then in 56° 48' S. and 62° 11' W. This was as far as they penetrated, and the rapidity of their movements is shown by the record they set of thirty-eight and a half miles in one day. Other shorter trips taken over the islands in the vicinity of Snow Hill Island resulted in the discovery of important fossils, including the bones of an unknown vertebrate animal, some mammoth penguins, as well as the leaves of different kinds of pine trees and several ferns. These were all regarded as belonging to the Tertiary period. With the New Year of 1903 they indulged in festivities, not only on account of the season, but also in anticipation of the early arrival of the _Antarctica_. As they had no idea of spending two winters in succession in the station, they had not been rigidly economical with their stores. There was no shortage in anything, but there was not enough to last them during a second winter on the same scale that they had lived during the first. When the days went by and grew into weeks, and no ship appeared, they began to take note of these things. For a time they kept on the lookout, and, at night, would conjecture at what hour on the following day the _Antarctica_ would appear, and by whom she would first be seen, but as the month slipped by and no ship appeared, they dropped the subject, with one accord, and, instead of discussing when the vessel would arrive, they talked about the best way of spending their second winter at the station. The penguin roosts were visited and large numbers of the birds were killed and stored away for winter food, while seals were slaughtered to provide food for the dogs and clothing for the men. Although they never discussed it, the idea each man had about the non-arrival of the _Antarctica_ was that she had become caught in the ice, and so prevented from reaching them until it was too late in the season. What had actually occurred never suggested itself.