352 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



Early on the 29th I waked the others, hoping to make an 

 early start. Unfortunately something went wrong with the 

 primus ; I am afraid some spirit was mixed with the paraffin. 

 At any rate we had an anxious hour testing the apparatus, 

 which formed our only source of heat while sledging, but 

 found nothing out of order except the fuel. 



We had been looking forward to sledging over the vast 

 sheet of clear ice within Granite Harbour. But the late snow- 

 fall had ruined our chances, and we had practically no easy 

 sledging during the whole of the journey. Personally I was 

 so pleased that we had safely reached the Harbour, that a day 

 or two more or less now did not worry me. 



At the end of the second stage Forde discovered a cave in 

 the granite cliffs. It was about fifty feet high and twenty 

 feet wide. I think it was due to the sea tearing out the 

 loosened blocks along a large fracture in the granite, though 

 such an occurrence is necessarily rare on icebound coasts. 



I was very anxious to find a suitable spot for a head- 

 quarters camp, and so far not a single spot was large enough 

 to pitch the tent upon. In the bay just east of the huge bluff 

 there seemed to be some rock slopes. Most picturesque at 

 the head of the bay was a great granite cliff festooned with 

 narrow glaciers hanging over like ribbons. We heard several 

 avalanches here, and so called the place Avalanche Bay. In 

 the corner was a steep slope of glacial debris — partly mud and 

 partly gravel and boulders. We climbed up this for two 

 hundred and fifty feet, and so could look down on a small 

 glacier which occupied a bowl-shaped hollow in the coast-line. 

 This would appear to be a cwm valley into which the Pied- 

 mont Glacier has flowed. 



" After supper it cooled somewhat, and we started out for 

 some relay work. We could see the Bluff quite close, and 

 after half a mile I judged we were halfway and went back for 

 the second sledge. Then on again, and we never seemed to 

 get any nearer. It was nearly two miles off and we were all 

 tired on arrival. However, we plugged back for the second 

 sledge, and it was a weary grind ! As Debenham remarked : 

 * We were too tired to think ! ' We got in about 1 1.30 and 

 pitched camp on poor snow, fetching blocks of ice from the 

 wide tide-crack to weight the flaps. 



"We were much amused by the laments of a young seal 



