224 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [JUNE 



the base, in the hope of finding a note left in some depot which 

 could tell whether they had fulfilled their task or turned back 

 before reaching the Pole. On general grounds it was of great 

 importance not to leave the record of the Expedition incomplete, 

 with one of its most striking chapters a blank. 



The other alternative was to go west and north to relieve 

 Campbell and his party, always supposing they had survived the 

 winter. If they had come through the winter, every day of 

 advancing summer would improve their chances of living on in 

 Terra Nova Bay. At the same time there was good prospect of 

 their being ultimately relieved by the ship, if indeed she had not 

 taken them off in the autumn. As for ourselves, it seemed most 

 improbable that we could journey up the coast owing to the ab- 

 normal state of the ice. Instead of being frozen for the winter, 

 the whole Sound to the north and west of Inaccessible Island 

 was open water during July; the ice was driven out by the ex- 

 ceptionally strong and frequent winds, and there was little chance 

 of a firm road forming for the spring. Under these conditions 

 officers and men unanimously supported the decision to go south. 



Nelson at the end of June had started some lectures upon 

 heredity. These proved to be of great interest and led to 

 several discussions amongst the men and officers. They were 

 so popular that they had to be continued for three weeks. The 

 weather in June as a whole was immeasurably worse than it had 

 been in any previous season. Comparison of the records will 

 show this in figures, both as regards wind and snow, though not 

 in actual lowness of temperatures. Our hut was becoming grad- 

 ually snowed in. After these blizzards in the dark it was almost 

 an impossibility to walk far in the camp because of the huge 

 drifts. Pyaree started giving some trouble with her capped 

 knee on her near foreleg. This continued for some time and 

 she was unable to get exercise and lost condition. The ice which 

 had been fairly permanent again blew out in a large bight to the 

 south of the Cape. In the afternoon now we occasionally saw 

 some colour in the northern sky, a presage of the light that we 

 were to have. One never appreciates fully the blessing of an 

 amount of light until one has been through a good deal of dark- 

 ness. This time also we started bagging off the rations for the 

 future sledging season. Owing to the probable length of our 

 search these were of considerable bulk. 



