I08 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [February 



sure ridges at Cape Crozier towards the Bluff. There are prob- 

 ably more of these waves, though we crossed several during the 

 last part of the march — so far it seems that the soft parts are 

 in patches only and do not extend the whole length of the hollow. 

 Our course is to pick a way with the sure-footed beasts and keep 

 the others back till the road has been tested. 



What extraordinary uncertainties this work exhibits ! Every 

 day some new fact comes to light — some new obstacle which 

 threatens the gravest obstruction. I suppose this is the reason 

 which makes the game so well worth playing. 



Impressions 



The more I think of our sledging outfit the more certain I 

 am that we have arrived at something near a perfect equipment 

 for civilised man under such conditions. 



The border line between necessity and luxury is vague enough. 

 We might save weight at the expense of comfort, but all 

 possible saving would amount to but a mere fraction of one's 

 loads. Supposing it were a grim struggle for existence and we 

 were forced to drop everything but the barest necessities, the 

 total saving on this three weeks' journey would be : 



Fuel for cooking lOO 



Cooking apparatus 45 



Personal clothing, &c., say lOO 



Tent, say 30 



Instruments, &c 100 



375 

 This is half of one of ten sledge loads, or about one- 

 twentieth of the total weight carried. If this is the only part 

 of our weights which under any conceivable circumstances could 

 be included in the category of luxuries, it follows the sacrifice 

 to comfort is negligible. Certainly we could not have increased 

 our mileage by making such a sacrifice. 



But beyond this it may be argued that we have an unnecessary 

 amount of food: 32 oz. per day per man is our allowance. I 

 well remember the great strait of hunger to which we were re- 

 duced in 1903 after four or five weeks on 26 oz., and am per- 

 fectly confident that we were steadily losing stamina at that 



