176 SCOTT’S LAST EXPEDITION [DecemsER 
not to be outdone, cut out a white harp from a linen specimen- 
bag and sewed it on some green burberry! We had a fine lunch. 
Twenty-seven skua eggs had been collected, and Forde took the 
-precaution of cracking them first. The first showed considerable 
development—but he went into the fry, much to Gran’s disgust. 
Then about four fair ones and then eight bad ones; and finally 
we had two each—a thirty per cent. success! We opened the 
Christmas bag; a slice of pudding each, with ginger and caramels. 
An epicurean feast I warrant you. 
A dense sea fog rolled in that night and enveloped every- 
thing, and next morning all of us (except Gran whom nothing 
harmed) had rheumatic pains. Luckily this wore off later. It 
was Debenham’s birthday so we finished the box of chocolates, 
and Gran gave him a long-treasured box of cigarettes. 
At noon of the 27th we once more reached the Flat Iron. 
I was at first of the opinion that the New Glacier would be the 
easier route, but the others favoured the Flat Iron, and their 
arguments decided me to try that route. We found it much 
easier than the glacier would have been. However, it was no 
joke reaching the snow plateau behind the Flat Iron. We had 
to climb one thousand feet of rough granite-strewn slopes carry- 
ing the sledge and fourteen days’ provisions on our backs. 
Gran and Forde managed the thirteen-foot sledge, while 
Debenham and I transported gear, but it took a long time and 
many traverses to get everything up to our camp on the snow. 
Luckily my disabled hand did not prevent sledge-hauling or pack- 
ing, but it was now a long time since I had been able to sketch, 
photograph, or use the theodolite. 
From the camp we could see open water, but it was a long 
way off; so that I wrote: ‘It must go out a mile a day, or Pen- 
nell will have trouble to meet us.’ I remember we spent that 
evening discussing a proposed sledge trip in Norway over the 
little ice-cap of Justedals Brae. 
We left our snug gravelly camp after breakfast and pushed 
off up the great glacier. We were well knotted to the sledge and 
I went on a longer line so as to prospect for crevasses. It was 
comforting to think that though I couldn’t help to pull any- 
one else out, the other three would have no difficulty in dragging 
me up. We zigzagged down from the Flat Iron on to the snow 
plateau. This was about ten miles wide and seven miles long. 
