On our way back we were discussing the matter of raising flags and the formality of taking possession of newly discovered lands. The conclusion at which we arrived was, that the first chart of a new country was quite as good a deed to the title of land, as the empty formality of pinning a bit of bunting to a temporary post and drinking to the health of the Royal Ruler, as is the custom of British explorers. Thus far we have not unfurled a flag, nor have we made any other effort to take formal possession of the many new lands which we have discovered, except by our attempts at scientific exploration. This is in sharp contrast to the British, German and Russian, and all the ancient explorers whose first act always was to land and say, “This by the help of God, the consent of the Pope, and the permission of the King, belongs to us and to our countrymen.” The modesty of the Belgians is shown by the fact that the staff of the _Belgica_ went ashore to gather, not financial returns, or titles to unclaimed lands, but links of truth to add to the disconnected chain which is to bind the growing annals of terrestrial knowledge. [Illustration: Whale Blow-hole.] [Illustration: Seal Blow-hole.] CHAPTER XVIII THE AUTUMN (CONTINUED). WORK AND PASTIME March 28.--It is another day of clear, white silence. At sunrise and at sunset the twilight zone is becoming more and more marked. It is, to-night, an intense purple blue, and through it we see a star. Arctowski puts down the mysterious purple as a reflection from the shadows of the pack-ice, which at this time is a deep ultramarine blue, but to most of us it is still a puzzle. We are all occupied to-day preparing for a winter campaign of work. Danco is building a triangular hut in which he expects to make his magnetic observations. Arctowski is arranging a new system for meteorological observations and is scattering his instruments over the ice, about the ship, and in the masts. Racovitza is studying bird and seal parasites, and everybody else is preparing for his own special line of work. We all have big ambitions, but I fear our efforts will be dwarfed when the gloomy, dayless night settles down over us.