114 SCOTT'S’ LAST, EXPEDITION [OcrosER 
being clear and cold, but the surface was vile; no pressure, but 
soft sandy snow. We halted for a second lunch of raw seal at 
3.30 P.M. Levick, Abbott, and Browning like it, the rest of us 
do not. We camped at 6.15, all very tired. Distance 9 miles. 
A lovely evening. 
October 20.—A lovely morning, clear, calm, and cold. A 
stiff pull over a heavy surface brought us to the foot of the cliff 
of the Nordenskidéld ice tongue. The cliff here is about 50 feet 
high and very much indented. A few miles to the east a deep 
bay or inlet ran in to the southward. 
A steep snow drift enabled us to get on the ice tongue, but 
we had to unpack the sledges and carry most of the gear up, after 
hauling the sledges up to the top with the Alpine rope, as it was 
so steep. 
We camped on the top at about 5 p.m. Priestley, Levick, and 
I then roped up and went on to see what the going was like for 
the next day. 
We found long shallow undulations, and as far as we could 
see no crevasses. We shall cross it a long way inside David's 
route. Curiously enough there was hardly any tide crack be- 
tween the sea ice and the tongue. 
Several seals were in sight, but we did not kill any, as I am 
sure we shall get any amount south of this tongue. The tongue 
seems to be ice to within 2 feet of the top and the surface is 
rather a soft snow. Distance 6 miles. 
October 21.—Turning out at 5.30 A.M. we depoted all un- 
necessary gear and started considerably lighter. Should we have 
to turn back we can always pick this depot up easily. The day 
was lovely, but rather warm for pulling, and the surface soft but 
not bad going. We came across no crevasses and by 3.30 ran 
down an easy slope to the sea ice. The snow on the latter was 
rather deep. We lashed the wooden runner sledge on the one 
with the iron runners and pulled on till about 6, when we camped. 
October 22.—A nice morning, but soon after starting a cold 
southerly wind got up, resulting in several frostbitten noses. 
We were travelling over pressure well hidden by soft snow. In 
the afternoon we had some excitement seeing a dark conical ob- 
ject ahead, much the same shape as a tent. As Browning was 
rather bad, we left him with Dickason and Abbott to rest with 
the sledges, while Levick, Priestley, and I went on to look at it, 
tin ee 
