378 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



fresh to the extent that they had done no man-hauling until 

 we started up the glacier. But two of the other team, 

 Lieutenant Evans and Lashly, had been man-hauling since 

 the breakdown of the second motor on November i . They 

 had man-hauled four hundred statute miles farther than the 

 rest. Indeed Lashly's man-hauling journey from Corner 

 Camp to beyond 87 32' S., and back, is one of the great 

 feats of polar travelling. 



Surely and not very slowly, Scott's team began to wear 

 down the other team. They were going easily when the 

 others were making heavy weather and were sometimes far 

 behind. During the fortnight they rose, according to the 

 corrected observations, from 71 51 feet (Upper Glacier 

 Depot) to 9392 feet above sea level (Three Degree Depot). 

 The rarefied air of the Plateau with its cold winds and 

 lower temperatures, just now about - io° to - 12 at night 

 and - 3 during the day, were having their effect on the 

 second team, as well as the forced marches. This is quite 

 clear from Scott's diary, and from the other diaries also. 

 What did not appear until after the Last Returning Party 

 had turned homewards was that the first team was getting 

 worn out too. This team which had gone so strong up the 

 glacier, which had done those amazingly good marches on 

 the plateau, broke up unexpectedly and in some respects 

 rapidly from the 88th parallel onwards. 



Seaman Evans was the first man to crack. He was the 

 heaviest, largest, most muscular man we had, and that was 

 probably one of the main reasons : for his allowance of 

 food was the same as the others. But one mishap which 

 contributed to his collapse seems to have happened during 

 this first fortnight on the plateau. On December 3 1 the 

 12-feet sledges were turned into 10-feet ones by stripping 

 off the old scratched runners which had come up the glacier 

 and shipping new 10-feet ones which had been brought for 

 the purpose. This job was done by the seamen, and Evans 

 appears to have had some accident to his hand, which is 

 mentioned several times afterwards. 



Meanwhile Scott had to decide whom he was going to 

 take on with him to the Pole, — for it was becoming clear 



