72 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 



no fuss about it. Everything points to the desirability of the 

 haste which we are making so we go on to-morrow, Sunday. 



A whole host of minor ills besides snow blindness have come 

 upon us. Sore faces and lips, blistered feet, cuts and abrasions; 

 there are few without some troublesome ailment, but, of course, 

 such things are ' part of the business.' The soles of my feet 

 are infernally sore. 



' Of course the elements are going to be troublesome, but 

 it is good to know them as the only adversary and to feel 

 there is so small a chance of internal friction.' 



Ponting had an alarming adventure about this time. Bent 

 on getting artistic photographs with striking objects, such as 

 hummocked floes or reflecting water, in the foreground, he used 

 to depart with his own small sledge laden with cameras and 

 cinematograph to journey alone to the grounded icebergs. One 

 morning as he tramped along harnessed to his sledge, his snow 

 glasses clouded with the mist of perspiration, he suddenly felt the 

 ice giving under his feet. He describes the sensation as the 

 worst he ever experienced, and one can well believe it; there 

 was no one near to have lent assistance had he gone through. 

 Instinctively he plunged forward, the ice giving at every step 

 and the sledge dragging through water. Providentially the weak 

 area he had struck was very limited, and in a minute or two he 

 pulled out on a firm surface. He remarked that he was per- 

 spiring very freely ! 



Looking back it is easy to see that we were terribly incautious 

 in our treatment of this decaying ice. 



