19"] LOST TIME MADE UP 361 



this afternoon and only managed to get 12 miles (geo.). The 

 very hard pulling has occurred on two rises. It appears that 

 the loose snow is blown over the rises and rests in heaps on 

 the north-facing slopes. It is these heaps that cause our worst 

 troubles. The weather looks a little doubtful, a good deal of 

 cirrus cloud in motion over us, radiating E. and W. The wind 

 shifts from S.E. to S.S.W., rising and falling at intervals; it 

 is annoying to the march as it retards the sledges, but it must 

 help the surface, I think, and so hope for better things to-morrow. 

 The marches are terribly monotonous. One's thoughts wander 

 occasionally to pleasanter scenes and places, but the necessity to 

 keep the course, or some hitch in the surface, quickly brings them 

 back. There have been some hours of very steady plodding 

 to-day; these are the best part of the business, they mean for- 

 getfulness and advance. 



Saturday, December 30. — Bar. 20-42. Lunch. Night camp 

 52. Bar. 20-36. Rise about 150. A very trying, tiring march, 

 and only 11 miles (geo.) covered. Wind from the south to 

 S.E., not quite so strong as usual; the usual clear sky. 



We camped on a rise last night, and It was some time before 

 we reached the top this morning. This took It out of us as 

 the second party dropped. I went on 6]^ miles (vv^hen the 

 second party was some way astern) and lunched. We came on 

 in the afternoon, the other party still dropping, camped at 6.30 

 — they at 7.15. We came up another rise with the usual gritty 

 snow towards the end of the march. For us the Interval between 

 the two rises, some 8 miles, was steady plodding work which 

 we might keep up for some time. To-morrow I'm going to 

 march half a day, make a depot and build the lo-feet sledges. 

 The second party Is certainly tiring; it remains to be seen how 

 they will manage with the smaller sledge and lighter load. The 

 surface is certainly much worse than It was 50 miles back. 

 (T. — io°.) We have caught up Shackleton's dates. Every- 

 thing would be cheerful if I could persuade myself that the 

 second party were quite fit to go forward. 



Sunday, December 31. — New Year's Eve. 20-17. Height 

 about 9126. T. - 10°. Camp 53. Corrected Aneroid. The 

 second party depoted Its ski and some other weights equivalent 

 to about 100 lbs. I sent them off first; they marched, but not 

 very fast. We followed and did not catch them before they 



