218 DEPOT JOURNEYS 



bags. Next day we were surprised by brilliantly clear 

 weather and a dead calm. For the first time we had a 

 good view. Towards the south the Barrier seemed to 

 continue, smooth and even, without ascending. Towards 

 the east, on the other hand, there was a marked rise- 

 presumably towards King Edward VII. Land, we 

 thought then. In the course of the afternoon we passed 

 the first fissure we had met with. It had apparently 

 been filled up long ago. Our distance that day was 

 twenty-three miles. 



On these depot journeys we were always very glad of 

 our Thermos flasks. In the middle of the day we made 

 a halt, and took a cup of scalding hot chocolate, and it 

 was very pleasant to be able to get one without any 

 trouble in the middle of the snow plateau. On the final 

 southern journey we did not take Thermos flasks. We 

 had no lunch then. 



On February 14, after a march of eleven and a half 

 miles, we reached 80 S. Unfortunately we did not 

 succeed in getting any astronomical observation on this 

 trip, as the theodolite we had brought with us went 

 wrong, but later observations on several occasions gave 

 79 59' S. Not so bad in fog. We had marked out the 

 route up to this point with bamboo poles and flags at 

 every 15 kilometres. Now, as we had not fixed the 

 position by astronomical observation, we found that the 

 flags would not be sufficient, and we had to look for 

 some other means of marking the spot. A few empty 



