276 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Aug. 



continues in the spring. Throughout the greater part of the 

 winter we have had a guide rope which continued as far as 

 the hut, and had this been in order last night all trouble would 

 have been avoided ; but recently it has sagged between the 

 poles and become buried beneath the snow, and it was not 

 available, therefore, for parties leaving the hut.' 



Throughout our stay in these regions I had constantly 

 a lurking anxiety that disaster might attend the overbold 

 habits of some of our officers in making long excursions from 

 the ship, especially during the winter months. The trouble 

 lay chiefly in the impossibility of predicting the weather con- 

 ditions ; the barometer told nothing, and such other signs 

 of bad weather as came under our observation were so 

 uncertain that it was impossible to legislate on them. Threats 

 of a storm were so constantly unfulfilled that to have kept 

 all hands within bounds on their account would have been 

 irksome to individual feeling and discouraging to individual 

 work. The only satisfactory course was to rely on the dis- 

 cretion of distant workers to hasten home directly the weather 

 looked ugly, and to trust that the coming storm would not 

 develop before they had reached a position of safety ; but, 

 needless to remark, this happy result was not always realised, 

 and my diary throughout the two years records many hours 

 of anxiety caused by the prolonged absence of some person, and 

 some occasions on which search parties were rapidly organised 

 to find such a belated worker. In the course of time this 

 naturally became an easier task, as we all became better 

 acquainted with the features of the tide crack and the various 

 patches of rock and with their relative bearings. In course 

 of time also our system of relief became better organised ; and 

 although we did not put it in practice, it may be well to record 

 our final arrangement in this respect as a hint to those who 

 may live under like conditions in the future. In outline our 

 ultimate plan for searching was to spread out the search party 

 in a very extended order, connecting them by a fine strong 

 line, and so to sweep round the floe systematically until the 

 object of our search was recovered. 



