SHALL WE BE FIRST? 117 



were coming into Hobart — three months later. We 

 were very lucky in the weather during this depot work; 

 the sun came out all at once, and we had an excellent 

 opportunity of taking some good azimuth observations, 

 the last of any use that we got on the journey. 



December 9 arrived with the same fine weather and 

 sunshine. True, we felt our frost-sores rather sharply 

 that day, with - 18'4° F. and a little breeze dead against 

 us, but that could not be helped. We at once began to 

 put up beacons — a work which was continued with great 

 regularity right up to the Pole. These beacons were 

 not so big as those we had built down on the Barrier; 

 we could see that they would be quite large enough 

 with a height of about 3 feet, as it was very easy to see 

 the slightest irregularity on this perfectly flat surface. 

 While thus engaged we had an opportunity of becoming 

 thoroughly acquainted with the nature of the snow. 

 Often — very often indeed — on this part of the plateau, 

 to the south of 88° 25', we had difficulty in getting 

 snow good enough — that is, solid enough for cutting 

 blocks. The snow up here seemed to have fallen very 

 quietly, in light breezes or calms. We could thrust the 

 tent-pole, which was 6 feet long, right down without 

 meetiiig resistance, which showed that there was no 

 hard layer of snow. The surface was also perfectly 

 level; there was not a sign of sastrugi in any 

 direction. 



Every step we now took in advance brought us rapidly 



