A HARD STRUGGLE 179 



and ended at about nine at night, with a couple of hours' 

 rest in the bag at dinner-time. The ice was what I 

 should previously have called anything but good ; it was 

 throughout extremely uneven, with pressed -up, rather 

 new ice, and older, rounded - off ridges. There were 

 ridges here and there, but progress was possible every- 

 where, and by lanes, happily, we were not hindered. The 

 snow was rather loose between all the irreofularities of 

 the ice ; but the dogs hauled alone everywhere, and there 

 is no cause to complain of them. The ice we are now 

 stopping in seems to me to be something like that we 

 had around the Frain. We ha\'e about got down to the 

 region where she is drifting. I am certain we did 20 

 miles yesterday, and the distance homeward should now 

 be altogether 368 miles, 



" The weather is glorious nowadays, not so cold as to 

 inconvenience one, and continual clear sunshine, without 

 any wind to signify. There is remarkable equableness 

 and stagnancy in the atmosphere up here, I think. 

 We have travelled over this ice for upward of a month 

 now, and not once have we been stopped on account of 

 bad weather — the same bright sunshine the whole time, 

 with the exception of a couple of days, and even then the 

 sun came out. Existence becomes more and more en- 

 joyable ; the cold is gone, and we are pressing forward 

 towards land and summer. It is no trial now to turn 

 out in the mornings, witli a good day's march before 

 one, and cook, and lie snuq- and warm in the bau; and 



