THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 



{Vide large folding map at end.) 



During the winter the four members of the western party 

 often used to gaze to the north-west across McMurdo Sound 

 and wonder what adventures we should meet in the coming 

 summer. We could make out the hills behind Cape Ber- 

 nacchi fairly well, some fifty miles off; but beyond that was 

 a greyish mass of land which, north of our horizon, was 

 broken by the large inlet of Granite Harbour just about 

 latitude 77 . We read up what little was known of it, and 

 Wilson told us his memories — of a sort of bluff-ended pen- 

 insula where we could reach terra firma^ of ice-falls filled with 

 crevasses, and not very promising as a route to the interior. 



We expected to get away by October 22nd, but Deben- 

 ham, as has been told, injured his knee a day or two before, 

 and spent most of the next three weeks in his bunk trying to 

 reduce the inflammation sufficiently for him to walk. 



The western party were unfortunate in having another 

 cripple. Forde's right hand was still in bandages from his 

 severe frostbites, but they were progressing favourably, and 

 though he never was able to use it for delicate operations, it 

 did not handicap him greatly. 



On the 5th of November we packed the sledges. Our 

 delay had one advantage — we needed less food, and so our 

 load was lighter. In fact, I don't know how we could have 

 managed much more than our " half ton." I omitted 

 three weeks' supplies, but packed all the remainder on to the 

 sledges. In the huge canvas bag — called a tank by the 

 seamen — were put the weekly bags of stores. Here a little 

 pile of butter, there smaller bags of tea, etc. A few small 

 bags of pepper, salt, etc., were placed in the " Ready-Bag." 

 This latter was a smaller canvas bag which held just a week's 

 food, and was kept separate from the main "tank," so that 



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