508 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



The following remarks on the South Pole area were 

 written by Bowers in the Meteorological Log, apparently 

 on January 17 and 18 : "Within 120 miles of the South 

 Pole the sastrugi crossed seem to indicate belts of certain 

 prevalent winds. These were definitely S.E.ly. up to about 

 Lat. 7 8° 30' S., where the summit was passed and we 

 started to go definitely downhill toward the Pole. An in- 

 definite area was then crossed S.E.ly, S.ly and S.W.ly 

 sastrugi. Later, in about 79 30' S., those from the S.S.W. 

 predominated. At this point also the surface of the ice-cap 

 became affected by undulations running more or less at 

 right angles to our course. These resolved themselves into 

 immense waves some miles in extent, 1 with a uniform sur- 

 face both in hollow and crust. The whole surface was car- 

 peted with a deposit of ice-crystals which, while we were 

 there, fell sometimes in the form of minute spicules and 

 sometimes in plates. These caused an almost continuous 

 display of parhelia. 



" The flags left a month previously by the Norwegian 

 expedition were practically undamaged and so could not 

 have been exposed to very heavy wind during that time. 

 Their sledging and ski tracks, where marked, were raised 

 slightly, also the dogs' footprints. In the neighbourhood 

 of their South Pole Camp the drifts were S.W.ly, but there 

 was one S.S.E. drift to leeward of tent. They had pitched 

 their tent to allow for S.W.ly wind. For walking on foot 

 the ground was all pretty soft, and on digging down the 

 crystalline structure of the snow was found to alter very 

 little, and there were no layers of crust such as are found 

 on the Barrier. The snow seems so lightly put together as 

 not to cohere, and makes very little water for its bulk when 

 melted. The constant and varied motion of cirrus, and the 

 forming and motion of radiant points, shows that in the 

 upper atmosphere at this time of the year there is little or 

 no tranquillity." 2 



That is the bare bones of what was without any possible 

 doubt a great shock. Consider ! These men had been out 



1 Evidently meaning some miles from crest to crest. 

 2 Bowers, Polar Meteorological Log. 



