"It does not hold to the bottom, like the Falklands or the Kerguelens! So the safest course is to wait, as the boat cannot carry twenty-three, the number of our party." I dwelt upon the fact that it was not necessary for all twenty-three to embark.

It would be sufficient, I said, for five or six of us to reconnoitre further south for twelve or fifteen miles.
"South ?" repeated Captain Len Guy.
"Undoubtedly, captain," I added.

"You probably know what the geographers frankly admit, that the antarctic regions are formed by a capped continent." "Geographers know nothing, and can know nothing about it," replied West, coldly.
"It is a pity," said I, "that as we are so near, we should not attempt to solve this question of a polar continent." I thought it better not to insist just at present.
Moreover there would be danger in sending out our only boat on a voyage of discovery, as the current might carry it too far, or it might not find us again in the same place.

And, indeed, if the iceberg happened to get loose at the bottom, and to resume its interrupted drift, what would become of the men in the boat?
The drawback was that the boat was too small to carry us all, with the necessary provisions.

Now, of the seniors, there remained ten men, counting Dirk Peters; of the new men there were thirteen; twenty-three in all.