1876 MARKHAMS RETURN JOURNEY. 387 



brightly, which we appreciate the more as we have 

 been so long deprived of its presence. The tempera- 

 ture, however, is as low as 5°. At lunch time the 

 colours were again displayed and the 'main brace' 

 spliced, to commemorate the first anniversary of our 

 departure from England. Got on to a heavy floe on 

 which we had left our 20-foot ice-boat on the 19th 

 of April, and pitched our tents alongside the boat. 

 Found her exactly as she had been left, but surrounded 

 by an embankment of snow. Distance made good 

 two miles. 



« 30th. — -Our usual weather has returned — thick fog 

 and snow falling. Before lunch a strong breeze sprang 

 up from the N.W., which quickly freshened into half a 

 gale of wind. This with a dense snow-drift compelled 

 us to halt and pitch our tents on the southern edge of a 

 large floe, having completely lost our track. Walked 

 with Parr for a long distance along the fringe of 

 hummocks skirting the floe, but failed to discover our 

 old cutting through. Distance made good one mile 

 and a-half. 



4 31s£. — Struck camp, and started at 8 p.m.; Parr and 

 myself having previously walked on to endeavour to 

 find the old route, which we luckily succeeded in doing, 

 being, as we anticipated, more than half-a-mile to the 

 westward of it. Crossed a fringe of hummocks, which 

 had evidently been in motion since we passed them on 

 our outward journey ; but what was still more alarm- 

 ing, whilst dragging the sledges over a small patch of 

 young ice the heavy sledge broke through, and we had 

 no little trouble in saving it from a complete immersion, 

 which might have resulted seriously to one of the un- 

 ci c 2 



