4 2o WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



in our meteorological report Simpson argues that they were 

 abnormal for the Barrier at this time of year. 1 



Since there was no depot of dog-food at One Ton it was 

 not possible to go farther South (except for the one day 

 mentioned above) without killing dogs. My orders on this 

 point were perfectly explicit ; I saw no reason for disobey- 

 ing them, and indeed it appeared that we had been wrong 

 to hurry out so soon, before the time that Scott had reck- 

 oned that he would return, and that the Polar Party would 

 really come in at the time Scott had calculated before start- 

 ing rather than at the time we had reckoned from the data 

 brought back by the Last Return Party. 



From the particulars already given it will be seen that I 

 had no reason to suspect that the Polar Party could be in 

 want of food. The Polar Party of five men had according 

 to our rations plenty of food either on their sledge or in 

 the depots. In addition they had a lot of pony meat de- 

 poted at Middle Glacier Depot and onwards from there. 

 Though we did not know it, the death of Evans at the foot 

 of the Beardmore Glacier provided an additional amount 

 of food for the four men who were then left. The full 

 amount of oil for this food had been left in the depots ; 

 but we know now what we did not know then, that some 

 of it had evaporated. These matters are discussed in greater 

 detail in the account of the return of the Polar Party and 

 after. 2 



Thus I felt little anxiety for the Polar Party. But I was 

 getting anxious about my companion. Soon after arrival 

 at One Ton it was clear that Dimitri was feeling the cold. 

 He complained of his head ; then his right arm and side 

 were affected ; and from this time onwards he found that 

 he could do less and less with his right side. Still I did not 

 worry much about it, and my decision as to our move- 

 ments was not affected by this complication. I decided to 

 allow eight days' food for our return, which meant that we 

 must start on March 10. 



"March 10. Pretty cold night: -23° when we turned 



1 British Antarctic Expedition, igio-igrj, " Meteorology," by G. C Simpson, 

 vol. L pp. 28-30. 2 See pp. 550-556. 



