32 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [December 



Rennlck Parnie 



Bowers Birdie 



Taylor Griff and Keir Hardy- 

 Nelson Marie and Bronte 



Gran 



Cherry-Garrard . . Cherry 



Wright Silas, Toronto 



Priestley .... Raymond 



Debenham .... Deb 



Bruce 



Drake Francis 



Atkinson .... Jane, Helmin, Atchison 



Oates Titus, Soldier, ' Farmer Hayseed ' 



(by Bowers) 



Levick Toffarino, the Old Sport 



Lillie Lithley, Hercules, Lithi * 



Tuesday, December 20.— Noon 68^41' S., 179^28' W. 

 Made good S. 36 W. 58; C. Crozier S. 20 W. 563'. — The 

 good conditions held up to midnight last night; we went from 

 lead to lead with only occasional small difficulties. At 9 o'clock 

 we passed along the western edge of a big stream of very heavy 

 bay ice — such ice as would come out late in the season from the 

 inner reaches and bays of Victoria Sound, where the snows drift 

 deeply. For a moment one imagined a return to our bad con- 

 ditions, but we passed this hea\^ stuff in an hour and came again 

 to the former condition, making our way in leads between floes 

 of great area. 



Bowers reported a floe of 12 square miles in the middle 

 watch. We made very fair progress during the night, and an 

 excellent run in the morning watch. Before eight a moderate 

 breeze sprang up from the west and the ice began to close. We 

 have worked our way a mile or two on since, but with much 

 difficulty, so that we have now decided to bank fires and wait 

 for the ice to open again; meanwhile we shall sound and get 

 a haul with tow nets. I'm afraid we are still a long way from 

 the open water; the floes are large, and where we have stopped 

 they seem to be such as must have been formed early last win- 

 ter. The signs of pressure have increased again. Bergs were 

 Tery scarce last night, but there are several around us to-day. 



