326 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



days, and here we are a fortnight out, and barely one- 

 third of the distance to the glacier covered, with every pony 

 showing signs of wear. Victor looks a lean and lanky beast 

 compared with his condition two weeks ago." x 



But the ponies began to go better; and it was about 

 this time that Jehu was styled the Barrier Wonder, and 

 Chinaman the Thunderbolt. " Our four ponies have suf- 

 fered most," writes Bowers. " I don't agree with Titus that 

 it is best to march them right through without a lunch 

 camp. They were undoubtedly pretty tired, and worst of 

 all did not go their feeds properly. It was a fine warm 

 morning for them (Nov. 13); + 1 5 , our warmest tem- 

 perature hitherto. In the afternoon it came on to snow in 

 large flakes like one would get at home. I have never seen 

 such snow down here before ; it makes the surface very 

 bad for the sledges. The ponies' manes and rugs were 

 covered in little knots of ice." 



The next march (November 13-14) was rather better, 

 though the going was very deep and heavy, and all the 

 ponies were showing signs of wear and tear. This was 

 followed by a delightfully warm day, and all the animals 

 were standing drowsily in the sunshine. We could see 

 the land far away behind us, the first sight of land we 

 had had for many days. On November 15 we reached 

 One Ton Depot, having travelled a hundred and thirty 

 miles from Hut Point. 



The two sledges left standing were still upright, and 

 the tattered remains of a flag flapped over the main cairn. 

 In a salt tin lashed to the bamboo flag-pole was a note from 

 Lieutenant Evans to say that he had gone on with the 

 motor party five days before, and would continue man- 

 hauling to 8o° 30' S. and await us there. "He has done 

 something over 30 miles in l\ days — exceedingly good 

 going." 2 We dug out the cairn, which we found just as 

 we had left it except that there was a big tongue of drift, 

 level with the top of the cairn to leeward, and running 

 about 1 50 yards to N.E., showing that the prevailing wind 

 here is S.W. Nine months before we had sprinkled some 



1 Bowers. 2 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 465. 



