160 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [NOVEMBER 



yards of the thin snow. When we were on the snow where 

 you could grip the sledge was on ice and needed no pulling. 

 When we were on ice the sledge was on detestable sticky stuff 

 and wouldn't budge. We had a merry time and cursed the glassy 

 ice and its mate.' 



From Dunlop Island as far north as we could see stretched 

 an icy barrier, the furthest visible promontory of the piedmont 

 being almost due north, though the maps of this coast showed 

 a well-marked bend to the west. 



Unfortunately the wind changed in direction, and after it 

 had nearly blown the sledge over I decided to ' down sail ' and 

 steer nearer the coast. 



We reached a spot where it was possible to climb up the ice. 

 Here by the tide crack we pitched our tent. Gran and I climbed 

 up 200 feet, crossing a few rather large crevasses. We could 

 see no open water within ten miles. 



On the 24th we got off at 9.30. I decided to try one sledge 

 first and tack on the other if all went well. There was no wind 

 and it was very hot. We could only just drag one sledge along 

 and had only managed to get a mile northward by i P.M. 

 Debenham had wrenched his knee, I sprained a leg muscle, 

 and our progress was practically nil. So I decided to pitch the 

 tent and go in for night marching when the temperature would 

 be below freezing-point and the surface harden a little. A queer 

 state of affairs ! I wrote : ' It was too hot to keep inside the 

 sleeping-bags so I lay outside without a coat, in one pair of 

 socks and finneskoes till about 6 when Praise Be it got cooler ! ' 



Night marching commenced about 9 P.M. The surface was 

 much better and as usual was best when a sort of ' pancake 

 patchwork ' of ice projected above the soft snow. We were 

 never able to use the sail again and had to relay practically all 

 the remainder of our journey. 



To the east appeared a brown island about 100 feet high 

 and a quarter of a mile long. We hoped this had been missed 

 by previous explorers, and while Debenham and I took angles 

 with the plane table and theodolite the other two made a detour 

 to examine our * find.' Unfortunately it turned out to be a 

 ' silt-berg ' a mass of ice filled with mud and moraine material. 

 Many of the * doubtful islands ' marked on Polar charts no 

 doubt originated in the same way. 



