1903] BAD LIGHT FOR STEERING 79 



him on his feet during the marches. There is now no doubt 

 that the scorbutic symptoms are diminishing ; both Wilson and 

 I have much cleaner gums, and my leg is vastly improved. 

 Our seal-meat at the present rate will last another fifteen days, 

 by which time we ought to be within reach of safety. Six 

 weeks ago we were very much inclined to swear at the cook, 

 who had been careless enough to leave a good deal of blubber 

 in our seal-meat, but now we bless his carelessness, and are 

 only too eager to discover that our " whack " has a streak of 

 yellow running through the dark flesh. I could not have 

 believed it possible that I should ever have enjoyed blubber, 

 and the fact that we do is an eloquent testimony to our famished 

 condition. 



' This afternoon we have had some glimpses of the land 

 and have got some bearings, but there are still masses of cloud 

 over the mountains. We can see the steep cliffs on the 

 northern side of Cape A, and similar cliffs fringing the foot- 

 hills on the opposite side of the strait, but what stands behind 

 we cannot hope to know, unless the weather clears. So far 

 as exploring is concerned, on these overcast days one might 

 just as well be blindfolded. 



' The sunlight this afternoon showed that we are crossing 

 a very peculiar surface of hard, cracked, lateral ridges, with 

 softish snow between, due no doubt to the pressure of the 

 ice-mass pushing out through the strait.' 



^January 17. — • . . . The continuance of our overcast 

 weather has brought a trouble which is now becoming a 

 serious matter, and that is the difficulty of steering. I take 

 it on myself to do most of it now, sometimes by a cloud, 

 sometimes by the sun, and sometimes by sastrugi^ and in half 

 an hour it often happens that each of these methods has to be 

 employed in turn.' 



It would perhaps be as well here to make a short digression 

 to explain the difficulties connected with this matter in such 

 a journey as ours. It will be understood that we carried a 

 compass in our instrument-box, but to have held this in one's 

 hand as one marched would have been quite useless, as it was 



