332 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



860 lbs. of pony food between them, and according to 

 plan the two teams were to carry 1 570 lbs. from One Ton 

 between them. These weights included the sledges, with 

 straps and fittings, which weighed about 45 lbs. 



Summer seemed long in coming for we marched into a 

 considerable breeze and the temperature was - 1 8°. Oates 

 and Seaman Evans had quite a crop of frost-bites. I 

 pointed out to Meares that his nose was gone ; but he left 

 it, saying that he had got tired of it, and it would thaw out 

 by and by. The ponies were going better for their rest. 

 The next day's march was over crusty snow with a layer of 

 loose powdery snow at the top, and a temperature of - 2 1° 

 was chilly. Towards the end of it Scott got frightened that 

 the ponies were not going as well as they should. Another 

 council of war was held, and it was decided that an average 

 of thirteen miles a day must be done at all costs, and that 

 another sack of forage should be dumped here, putting the 

 ponies on short rations later, if necessary. Oates agreed, 

 but said the ponies were going better than he expected : 

 that Jehu and Chinaman might go a week, and almost 

 certainly would go three days. Bowers was always against 

 this dumping. Meanwhile Scott wrote : " It's touch and 

 go whether we scrape up to the glacier ; meanwhile we get 

 along somehow." 1 



As a result of one of Christopher's tantrums Bowers re- 

 cords that his sledge-meter was carried away this morning: 

 "I took my sledge-meter into the tent after breakfast and 

 rigged up a fancy lashing with raw hide thongs so as 

 to give it the necessary play with security. A splendid 

 parhelia exhibition was caused by the ice-crystals. Round 

 the sun was a 22° halo [that is a halo 22° from the sun's 

 image], with four mock suns in rainbow colours, and out- 

 side this another halo in complete rainbow colours. Above 

 the sun were the arcs of two other circles touching these 

 halos, and the arcs of the great all-round circle could be 

 seen faintly on either side. Below was a dome-shaped glare 

 of white which contained an exaggerated mock sun, which 

 was as dazzling as the sun himself. Altogether a fine 



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1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 468. 



