1 3 o WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



" Twelfth Stage (9 p.m.). Stopped near the big moraine 

 after heavy pulling over two inches of soft snow. Camped 

 on big patch of hard snow by a huge boulder." 



We spent the forenoon making our depot at this camp. 

 It lay four miles north-west of Descent Pass, and would be on 

 our route if we decided to return to the sea by the Pass. We 

 left here what we did not require during our fortnight in the 

 Dry Valley region. We piled three biscuit boxes on the 

 smaller sledge, and packed the smaller provision bags under 

 the sledge. We put the butter inside the instrument-box 

 with the spare photographic plates. Also I decided to leave 

 the heavy steel under-runners, for so far we had met with 

 no rough ice. The penguin had been lashed on behind the 

 sledge and had suffered considerably from the capsizes ! Him 

 we buried under some blocks of snow, pending a " hoosh " 

 on our return. We took a fortnight's provisions in addition 

 to the " ready-bag," and I tied a note to our depot flag, 

 mentioning the nth as the probable date of our return. 



Just to the west of the main Cathedral Rocks was a very 

 interesting tributary valley — the first real low-level tributary 

 of which we had had a good view. Obviously owing to some 

 difference in the snow-supply, this tributary is keeping pace 

 with the main glacier, and enters the latter "at grade." The 

 majority of the other tributaries have not entered the Ferrar 

 on a level (at grade) since it was two thousand feet thicker. 



The sun was quite powerful, and we had to wear goggles 

 in consequence, but during our ensuing stay in Dry Valley 

 there was so much bare rock that we had no need for them. 

 At lunch my unlucky boots fell to pieces again, and Evans 

 put some scientific sewing into them. But no sewing held, 

 until continual frost turned the leather into a material almost 

 as strong as steel. 



Towards six o'clock we reached the top of the steeper 

 portion of the Ferrar Glacier, and found ourselves on a small 

 ice plateau about 3200 feet above sea-level. On the south it 

 rose to the south arm, while to the north was the entrance to 

 Dry Valley. The col of ice leading in this direction is of 

 considerable interest, for it shows what conditions were like 

 near Luzern in the Great Ice Age. However, I will describe 

 this form of " Twin Glacier " in a later paragraph. 



A few miles before we camped we were hauling the sledge 



