I903] THE WESTERN JOURNEY 163 



now as veterans we steered through theai with success ; and 

 when all circumstances are considered, the extreme severity of 

 the climate and the obstacles that stood in our path, I cannot 

 but believe we came near the limit of possible performance. 



It is for this reason, and because the region in which much 

 of our work lay was very beautiful and interesting, that I pro- 

 pose to take the reader into the details of one more sledging 

 excursion. 



The party with which I left the ship on October 12, 1903, 

 numbered twelve members in all. It was really the combina- 

 tion of three separate parties. First came my own advance 

 party, which I had selected with great care, and which included 

 our chief engineer, Skelton, our boatswain, Feather, and three 

 men, Evans, Lashly, and Handsley ; secondly, there was a 

 small party for our geologist, Ferrar, with whom went two men, 

 Kennar and Weller ; and thirdly, there were the supports, 

 consisting of our carpenter, Dailey, and two other men, 

 Williamson and Plumley. 



The original scheme was that the whole party should 

 journey together to the summit of Victoria Land, and as far 

 beyond as could be reached within a certain limit of time ; then 

 the advance party should proceed and the remainder turn 

 back. An absence of nine weeks was calculated for the 

 advance party. The supports were to return direct to he 

 ship, but stores were to be so arranged in the glacier depots 

 that Ferrar was allowed an absence of six weeks in which to 

 make a geological survey of the region. 



We started from the ship with four eleven-foot sledges, and 

 with an outfit of permanent stores which the reader will find on 

 referring to the chapter dealing with sledge equipment. 

 Altogether our loads were a little over 200 lbs. per man ; but 

 most of us were in pretty hard condition by this time, and we 

 found little difficulty in dragging such a weight. 



And so we started away with the usual cheers and good 

 wishes, little thinking how soon we should be on board again. 



As I had determined that from first to last of this trip there 

 should be hard marching, we stretched across over the forty- 



M 2 



