84 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Jan. 



We got off another excellent march to-day. The wind holds 

 from the south, sometimes falling light, but on the whole giving 

 us great help. This wind is the greater blessing because it was 

 so wholly unexpected. 



' We have slightly increased our food allowance, but we feel 

 that it would take weeks of such feeding to make up for arrears. 

 I went out late to-night and, as usual, inspected our biscuit 

 tank ; it looked so healthy that I suggested a biscuit all round. 

 There was loud applause from the tent, and we munched away 

 at our small extra meal with immense joy. 



* Ever since the warmer weather set in we have had to be 

 very careful to keep our provisions out of the sun's rays. Our 

 first warning was when an ominous splash on the canvas showed 

 where the grease of the pemmican had melted its way through. 

 Since then this class of food has been put in the middle and 

 banked round with sugar and other non-meltable articles ; and 

 after supper every night the ready provision-bag is buried under 

 the snow. In spite of such precautions, we are rather afraid that 

 our seal-meat has suffered from the heat, and that it is not so 

 anti-scorbutic as it was ; our scurvy symptoms for the last few 

 days have remained about the same, no better and no worse.' 



^January 24. — Things are still looking well. Shackleton 

 remains about the same ; he is having a cruel time, but each 

 march brings us nearer safety. The overcast weather still 

 holds, and we cannot see the main land, although, to our 

 great joy, we caught a glimpse of the Bluff to the north this 

 afternoon. 



' We have got on to a new form of surface which makes 

 the pulHng very wearisome. There is a thin crust an inch or 

 so beneath the soft snow surface ; this crust is almost sufficient 

 to bear our weight, but not quite ; the consequence is that as 

 one steps on it, one is held up until the whole weight comes on 

 the advanced foot, when the crust breaks and one is let down 

 some three or four inches. To go on breaking the surface like 

 this throughout a long day is extremely tiring. Such work 

 would finish Shackleton in no time, but luckily he is able to 

 go on ski and avoid the jars altogether. In spite of our present 



