1903] HARROWING EFFECT OF SNOWFALL 201 



at this great altitude and distance from the sea is beyond 

 guessing. Hunger is growing upon us once more, though not 

 to such an alarming extent as it did last year ; still, we practise 

 the same devices for serving out our rations, and are as keen 

 at picking up the scraps as ever. It is curious that last year 

 we used to think mostly of beefsteak pies and what Shackleton 

 called " three-decker puddings," but this year there is ever 

 before my eyes a bowl of Devonshire cream. If it was only a 

 reality, how ill I should be ! I think Evans's idea of joy is 

 pork, whilst Lashly dreams of vegetables, and especially apples. 

 He tells us stories of his youth when these things, and not 

 much else, were plentiful.' 



During this time we were making excellently long marches, 

 and gradually as the days passed we were losing much of our 

 fear of the overcast weather in its power of delaying us, though 

 I still saw that the greatly increased amount of cloud might 

 make it most difficult for us to recognise our landmarks when 

 they should appear in sight. 



Certainly the ups and downs of sledging life are wonderful ; 

 for instance, on the 8th, I find my record full of hope. We 

 had marched long hours over a comparatively easy surface ; I 

 did not know where we were, but I knew that we must be up 

 to date, and that if conditions held as they were, we should 

 reach the glacier in good time, even if we had to spend some 

 time in looking for landmarks. But on the 9th came a most 

 serious change of surface which seemed to baffle all our hopes 

 at one blow, for we knew well that this new condition had 

 come to stay. I found out afterwards that at this time we 

 must have been somewhere close to the spot which we had 

 crossed on November 16 when outward bound. I have given 

 some description of the surface at that time ; it was alternately 

 hard and soft, but the hard places had been so slippery that 

 we had been obliged to wear crampons to pull our sledges over 

 them. Now all this was changed by a recent fall of snow, 

 which had covered everything with a sandy layer of loose ice- 

 crystals and brought terrible friction on the sledge-runners. 



This layer grew heavier as we approached the edge of the 



