488 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



monuments in the world none seems to me more fitting ; 

 and it is also most impressive. 



November 17. Early morning. I think we are all going 

 crazy together — at any rate things are pretty difficult. The 

 latest scheme is to try and find a way over the plateau to 

 Evans Coves, trying to strike the top of a glacier and go 

 down it. There can be no good in it : if ever men did it, 

 they would arrive about the time the ship arrived there too, 

 and their labour would be in vain. If they got there and 

 the ship did not arrive, there is another party stranded. 

 They would have to wait till February 15 or 20 to see if 

 the ship was coming, and then there would be no travelling 

 back over the plateau : even if we could do it those men 

 there could not. 



It was almost oppressively hot yesterday — but I'll never 

 grumble about heat again. It has now cleared a lot and 

 we came along on the cairns easily — but on a very soft 

 downy surface, and the travelling has not been fast. We 

 bring with us the Southern Party's gear. The sledge, 

 which was the 10-foot which they brought on from the 

 bottom of the glacier, has been left. 



November 18. Early morning. I am thankful to say that 

 the plateau journey idea has been given up. 



Once more we have come along in thick, snowy 

 weather. If we had not men on ski to steer we could never 

 keep much of a course, but Wright is steering us very 

 straight, keeping a check on the course by watching the 

 man behind, and so far we have been picking up all the 

 cairns. This morning we passed the pony walls made on 

 November 10. And yet they were nearly level with the 

 ground ; so they are not much of a mark. Yank has just 

 had a disagreement with Kusoi — for Kusoi objected to his 

 trying to get at the meat on the sledge. The mules have 

 been sinking in a long way, and are marching very slowly. 

 Pyaree eats the tea-leaves after meals : Rani and Abdullah 

 divide a rope between them at the halts; and they have 

 eaten the best part of a trace since our last camp. These 

 animals eat anything but their proper food, and this some 

 of them will hardly touch. 



