228 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Dec. 



than I ever remember to have seen her, and Koettlitz told me 

 there had been such heavy falls of snow a week earlier that 

 they had been obliged to dig their way out of the lobby 

 entrances. Koettlitz had remained on board to attend on the 

 medical cases ; these were now practically off his hands, but 

 he was devoting most of his time, as he had done throughout 

 the summer, to bacteriological studies. He rather feared, how- 

 ever, that his diligence in this line would prove of little avail, 

 as few less promising places could have been found for pursuing 

 such investigations than the wardroom of the ' Discovery.' 



After two or three days on board I began to grow restless 

 to see what was doing to the north ; moreover, I saw that as 

 I could not curb my appetite there was little chance of being 

 rid of my indigestion until I was once more on the march. 

 Our inactivity was also having a most obvious effect on my 

 sledging companions. It had to be acknowledged that they 

 were 'swelling wisibly'; each morning their faces became a 

 more ludicrous contrast to what I remembered of them on the 

 summit. Lashly was a man who usually changed little, and 

 therefore he quickly fell back into his ordinary condition, but 

 Evans continued to expand, and reached quite an alarming 

 maximum before he slowly returned to his normal size. 



On the morning of the 31st, therefore, we three, with 

 Handsley, who was now quite recovered, packed our sledge 

 once more, and started away for the sawing camp, some ten and 

 a half miles to the north ; in the afternoon we arrived at the 

 camp, to be greeted with cheers and congratulations. 



I may perhaps now explain how this camp came to be 

 formed. The reader will remember that I had arranged that 

 the sledging parties should return by the middle of December, 

 and that in the meantime a special tent should be prepared 

 and disposition made so that as soon as possible after this 

 date all hands should be available for the projected attempt 

 to saw through the great ice-sheet which intervened between 

 the * Discovery ' and the open sea. In drawing out instructions 

 I could not foretell, of course, how broad this ice-sheet would 

 be when operations were commenced; I could only assume 



