i|D THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Mar. 



done but to nurse my wounded limb and to determine that 

 never again would I be so rash as to run hard snow-slopes on 

 ski. 



By March 4 the preparation of the sledge party was com- 

 pleted. The party consisted of four officers, Royds, Koettlitz, 

 Skelton, and Barne, and eight men, and was divided into two 

 teams, each pulling a single sledge and each assisted by four 

 dogs. I am bound to confess that the sledges when packed 

 presented an appearance of which we should afterwards have 

 been wholly ashamed, and much the same might be said of 

 the clothing worn by the sledgers. But at this time our 

 ignorance was deplorable ; we did not know how much or 

 what proportions would be required as regards the food, how 

 to use our cookers, how to put up our tents, or even how to 

 put on our clothes. Not a single article of the outfit had been 

 tested, and amid the general ignorance that prevailed the lack 

 of system was painfully apparent in everything. Though each 

 requirement might have been remembered, all were packed in 

 a confused mass, and, to use a sailor's expression, ' everything 

 was on top and nothing handy.' 



Even at this time I was conscious how much there was to 

 be learnt, and felt that we must buy our experience through 

 many a discomfort ; and on looking back I am only astonished 

 that we bought that experience so cheaply, for clearly there 

 were the elements of catastrophe as well as of discomfort in the 

 disorganised condition in which our first sledge parties left the 

 ship. 



However, at the time few of those actively employed had 

 time or inclination to consider their unfitness ; all was bustle 

 and hurry to depart, and at length the order to march was 

 given and the party stepped out briskly for the steep snow- 

 slopes. By this time the sea-ice had broken past the eastern 

 slope of the ' Gap,' the peninsula could be crossed only by 

 climbing the higher passes, and the sledges had to be dragged 

 to an altitude of nearly 800 feet before the level plain of the 

 barrier could be reached. It was not until the following day, 

 therefore, that the retreating figures of the party were lost to 



