160 SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION [NoveMBER 
yards of the thin snow. When we were on the snow—where 
you could grip—the sledge was on ice and needed no pulling. 
When we were on ice the sledge was on detestable sticky stuff 
and wouldn’t budge. We had a merry time and cursed the glassy 
ice and its mate.’ 
From Dunlop Island as far north as we could see stretched 
an icy barrier, the furthest visible promontory of the piedmont 
being almost due north, though the maps of this coast showed 
a well-marked bend to the west. 
Unfortunately the wind changed in direction, and after it 
had nearly blown the sledge over I decided to ‘ down sail’ and 
steer nearer the coast. 
We reached a spot where it was possible to climb up the ice. 
Here by the tide crack we pitched our tent. Gran and I climbed 
up 200 feet, crossing a few rather large crevasses. We could 
see no open water within ten miles. 
On the 24th we got off at 9.30. I decided to try one sledge 
first and tack on the other if all went well. There was no wind 
and it was very hot. We could only just drag one sledge along 
and had only managed to get a mile northward by 1 P.M. 
Debenham had wrenched his knee, I sprained a leg muscle, 
and our progress was practically nil. So I decided to pitch the 
tent and go in for night marching when the temperature would 
be below freezing-point and the surface harden a little. A queer 
state of affairs! I wrote: ‘It was too hot to keep inside the 
sleeping-bags so I lay outside without a coat, in one pair of 
socks and finneskoes till about 6—when Praise Be it got cooler!’ 
Night marching commenced about 9 P.M. The surface was 
much better and as usual was best when a sort of ‘ pancake 
patchwork’ of ice projected above the soft snow. We were 
never able to use the sail again and had to relay practically all 
the remainder of our journey. 
To the east appeared a brown island about 100 feet high 
and a quarter of a mile long. We hoped this had been missed 
by previous explorers, and while Debenham and I took angles 
with the plane table and theodolite the other two made a détour 
to examine our ‘find.’ Unfortunately it turned out to be a 
* silt-berg ’"—a mass of ice filled with mud and moraine material. 
Many of the ‘ doubtful islands’ marked on Polar charts no 
doubt originated in the same way. 
