1875 START OF TRAVELLING PARTY. 151 



being a billing animal and a good puller, was harnessed 

 in with the rest. 



On the morning of the 26th the main travelling 

 party was ready to start, with the object of establishing 

 a depot of provisions as far in advance to the north- 

 west as possible. The force consisted of two seven-man 

 sledges and one eleven-man sledge, viz., the ' Marco 

 Polo/ 4 Victoria,' and ' Hercnles,' under Commander 

 Markham and Lieutenants Parr and May, and drawn 

 by twenty-five men ; they were provisioned for twenty 

 days. At 9 a.m., after prayers on the ice, officers and 

 men standing round the sledges, they started off in the 

 best of spirits ; the sledges, weighted to 200 lbs. a man, 

 running easily over the frozen road on the top of the 

 ice-foot. On reaching a place where it was necessary 

 to cross the young ice, which was only five inches thick, 

 the heaviest sledge, weighing 2,200 lbs., proved to be 

 too heavy for it, and after proceeding for half a mile 

 successfully, broke through, wetting most of the gear, 

 but fortunately not the men's clothes. Eeturning to the 

 ship and equipping a new seven-man sledge, Parr 

 started on to overtake his companions. 



The temperature at night fell to one degree below 

 zero, but fortunately it remained calm. 



During the 28th the few men left on board were 

 employed in lifting the chain cable from the bottom 

 on to the ice, to prevent its being frozen in during 

 the winter. A second cable was passed from the stern 

 to an anchor buried on shore. The officers were em- 

 ployed in making a survey of the neighbouring coast 

 and in constructing an observatory. 



On the 29th, at Floeberg Beach and at Discovery 



