Monday, May 29.—­Another beautiful calm day.  Went out both before and after the mid-day meal.  This morning with Wilson and Bowers towards the thermometer off Inaccessible Island.  On the way my companionable dog was heard barking and dimly seen—­we went towards him and found that he was worrying a young sea leopard.  This is the second found in the Strait this season.  We had to secure it as a specimen, but it was sad to have to kill.  The long lithe body of this seal makes it almost beautiful in comparison with our stout, bloated Weddells.  This poor beast turned swiftly from side to side as we strove to stun it with a blow on the nose.  As it turned it gaped its jaws wide, but oddly enough not a sound came forth, not even a hiss.

After lunch a sledge was taken out to secure the prize, which had been photographed by flashlight.

Ponting has been making great advances in flashlight work, and has opened up quite a new field in which artistic results can be obtained in the winter.

Lecture—­Japan.  To-night Ponting gave us a charming lecture on Japan with wonderful illustrations of his own.  He is happiest in his descriptions of the artistic side of the people, with which he is in fullest sympathy.  So he took us to see the flower pageants.  The joyful festivals of the cherry blossom, the wistaria, the iris and chrysanthemum, the sombre colours of the beech blossom and the paths about the lotus gardens, where mankind meditated in solemn mood.  We had pictures, too, of Nikko and its beauties, of Temples and great Buddhas.  Then in more touristy strain of volcanoes and their craters, waterfalls and river gorges, tiny tree-clad islets, that feature of Japan—­baths and their bathers, Ainos, and so on.  His descriptions were well given and we all of us thoroughly enjoyed our evening.

Tuesday, May 30.—­Am busy with my physiological investigations. [23] Atkinson reported a sea leopard at the tide crack; it proved to be a crab-eater, young and very active.  In curious contrast to the sea leopard of yesterday in snapping round it uttered considerable noise, a gasping throaty growl.

Went out to the outer berg, where there was quite a collection of people, mostly in connection with Ponting, who had brought camera and flashlight.

It was beautifully calm and comparatively warm.  It was good to hear the gay chatter and laughter, and see ponies and their leaders come up out of the gloom to add liveliness to the scene.  The sky was extraordinarily clear at noon and to the north very bright.

We have had an exceptionally large tidal range during the last three days—­it has upset the tide gauge arrangements and brought a little doubt on the method.  Day is going into the question, which we thoroughly discussed to-day.  Tidal measurements will be worse than useless unless we can be sure of the accuracy of our methods.  Pools of salt water have formed over the beach floes in consequence of the high tide, and in the chase of the crab eater to-day very brilliant flashes of phosphorescent light appeared in these pools.  We think it due to a small cope-pod.  I have just found a reference to the same phenomena in Nordenskioeld’s ‘Vega.’  He, and apparently Bellot before him, noted the phenomenon.  An interesting instance of bi-polarity.