3 o2 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



getting badly spoiled, but our beds are the height of all 

 our pleasures." 1 



But this did not last long : 



" Another very happy day doing nothing. After falling 

 asleep two or three times I went to bed, read Kim, and 

 slept. About two hours after each meal we all want 

 another, and after a tremendous supper last night we had 

 another meal before turning in. I have my taste back but 

 all our fingers are impossible, they might be so many 

 pieces of lead except for the pins and needles feeling in 

 them which we have also got in our feet. My toes are 

 very bulbous and some toe-nails are coming off. My left 

 heel is one big burst blister. Going straight out of a warm 

 bed into a strong wind outside nearly bowled me over. I 

 felt quite faint, and pulled myself together thinking it was 

 all nerves : but it began to come on again and I had to 

 make for the hut as quickly as possible. Birdie is now full 

 of schemes for doing the trip again next year. Bill says 

 it is too great a risk in the darkness, and he will not con- 

 sider it, though he thinks that to go in August might be 

 possible." 2 



And again a day or two later : 



" I came in covered with a red rash which is rather 

 ticklish. My ankles and knees are a bit puffy, but my feet 

 are not so painful as Bill's and Birdie's. Hands itch a bit. 

 We must be very weak and worn out, though I think 

 Birdie is the strongest of us. He seems to oe picking up 

 very quickly. Bill is still very worn and rather haggard. 

 The kindness of everybody would spoil an angel." 3 



I have put these personal experiences down from my 

 diary because they are the only contemporary record I 

 possess. Scott's own diary at this time contains the state- 

 ment: " The Crozier party returned last night after endur- 

 ing for five weeks the hardest conditions on record. They 

 looked more weather-worn than any one I have yet seen. 

 Their faces were scarred and wrinkled, their eyes dull, 

 their hands whitened and creased with the constant ex- 

 posure to damp and cold, yet the scars of frost-bite were 



1 My own diary. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 



