128 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



obviously awaiting the end of their moulting season. We 

 crossed over towards them and found that there were several 

 flocks, probably totalling one hundred. 



In the nearest group were thirty-six individuals, only one 

 of which had completed moulting. 



He was singled out for sacrifice and fell by a blow on the 

 neck. Evans and I dragged him to our camp, where I skinned 

 and cleaned the carcase in preparation for a change of diet if 

 our appetite failed on a pemmican regime. The limbs I hacked 

 off with my new bowie knife, and I was chagrined to find 

 that penguin bones can chip the best Sheffield blade ! 



Already my boots began to give trouble. The soft leather 

 sole would not hold the short nails, which only were 

 available on the Terra Nova, so that I attempted to mend 

 matters by driving in some Canadian lumber spikes supplied 

 by Wright. 



After Wright had taken another round of angles with the 

 theodolite we moved on up the Ferrar Glacier. The surface 

 degenerated rapidly. The flatter portions were sun-carved 

 into serried ranks of projections like plough-shares x and we 

 used the term " Plough-share Ice " to describe this feature. 

 Although this was unpleasant to walk on, yet the sledges 

 travelled over it readily — for as a general rule bad walking 

 meant easy pulling, and vice versa. But great holes, two or 

 three feet deep, were cut out below the general level, and 

 these were closer together as we moved further west. They 

 were crusted with fan crystals, and indeed represented a stage 

 of surface evolution which I have described as " coral reef 

 structure." We had much difficulty in guiding the sledges, 

 and they capsized several times before lunch. Every now 

 and again the sledge runners would jam, sending a jar through 

 one's frame, so that this unpleasant experience became known 

 — quite naturally — as a "jam-jar." 



Towards evening we approached the first series of pressure 

 rolls. Crossing diagonally (from south to north) were four 

 frozen rivers which formed tempting surfaces, but unfortu- 

 nately in the wrong direction, for they led to the broken ice 

 of the Overflow. 



We camped in an undulation filled deeply with hard snow, 

 a little below a fine tributary glacier and nearly opposite the 

 Overflow. 



