SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION 
THE WINTER JOURNEY 
JUNE 27, 1911, TO AUGUST I, IgII 
THE object of this expedition to the Emperor penguin rookery in 
the darkness and cold of an Antarctic winter was set forth years 
before in Dr. Wilson’s Report of the Zoology of the Discovery 
Voyage. It was to secure eggs at such a stage as could furnish a 
series of early embryos by which alone the particular points of 
interest in the development of the bird could be worked out; for 
it seemed probable ‘that we have in the Emperor penguin the 
nearest approach to a primitive form not only of a penguin, but 
of a bird.’ These points could not be investigated in the deserted 
eggs and chicks which had been obtained in Discovery days. Such 
a journey ‘entailed the risks of sledge travelling in midwinter 
with an almost total absence of light,’ for the Emperor is singular 
in nesting at the coldest season of the year, and ‘ the party would 
have to be on the scene at any rate early in July. . . . It would at 
any time require that a party of three at least, with full camp 
equipment, should traverse about a hundred miles of the Barrier 
surface and should, by moonlight, cross over with rope and axe 
the immense pressure ridges which form a chaos of crevasses at 
Cape Crozier . . . which have taken a party as much as two 
hours of careful work to cross by daylight.’ 
Furthermore, it afforded an opportunity of obtaining an 
exact knowledge of the winter conditions on the Barrier at its 
western end, and throughout its dangers and difficulties Bowers 
kept a most remarkable meteorological record (given at the end 
of this volume) the substance of which is embodied in this report. 
The three travellers also experimented with their sledging rations, 
each for some time taking a different proportion of pemmican and 
biscuit, the results of which were used in order to make up the 
rations for future use. 
VOL. II—I 
