THE POLAR JOURNEY 387 



[Each of the three parties which went forward up the 

 Beardmore Glacier carried extracts from the above diaries. 

 Wild was Shackleton's right-hand man in his Southern 

 Journey in 1908.] 



gt/t yanuary 19 12. 



Travelling is very difficult, bad light and still blizzing ; 

 it would have been impossible to keep in touch with the 

 cairns in this weather. I am giving 12 miles to-night. The 

 weather have moderated a bit and looks a bit more pro- 

 mising. Can see land at times. 



loth yanuary 19 12. 



The light is still very bad, with a good deal of drift, but 

 we must push on as we are a long way from our depot, but 

 we hope to reach it before our provisions run out. I am 

 keeping a good eye on them. Crean's eyes have got alright 

 again now. 



1 \th yanuary 1912. 



Things are a bit better to-day. Could see the land 

 alright and where to steer for. It is so nice to have some- 

 thing to look at, but I am thinking we shall all have our 

 work cut out to reach the depot before our provisions run 

 short. I am deducting a small portion each meal so that we 

 shall not have to go without altogether if we don't bring 

 up at the proper time. Have done about 14 miles. 



12th yanuary 191 2. 



The day has been full of adventure. At first we got 

 into some very rough stuff, with plenty of crevasses. Had 

 to get rid of the ski and put our thinking cap on, as we had 

 not got under way long before we were at the top of some 

 ice-falls ; these probably are what Shackleton spoke of. We 

 could see it meant a descent of 600/700 feet, or make a big 

 circuit, which meant a lot of time and a big delay, and this 

 we cant afford just now, so we decided on the descent into 

 the valley. This proved a difficult task, as we had no cram- 

 pons, having left them at Mt. Darwin Depot ; but we 

 managed after a time by getting hold of the sledge each 

 side and allowing her to run into a big lump of pressure 



