THE POLAR JOURNEY 517 



temperature - 25 . Thank God our days of having to face 

 it are over. We completed 19.5 miles [22 statute] this 

 evening, and so are only 29 miles from our precious [Three 

 Degree] Depot. It will be bad luck indeed if we do not 

 get there in a march and a half anyhow." 1 



Nineteen miles again on January 30, but during the 

 previous day's march Wilson had strained a tendon in his 

 leg. " I got a nasty bruise on the Tib[ialis] ant[icus] which 

 gave me great pain all the afternoon." " My left leg ex- 

 ceedingly painful all day, so I gave Birdie my ski and 

 hobbled alongside the sledge on foot. The whole of the 

 Tibialis anticus is swollen and tight, and full of teno synov- 

 itis, and the skin red and oedematous over the shin. But 

 we made a very fine march with the help of a brisk breeze." 

 January 31 : " Again walking by the sledge with swollen 

 leg but not nearly so painful. We had 5.8 miles to go to 

 reach our Three Degree Depot. Picked this up with a 

 week's provision and a line from Evans, and then for 

 lunch an extra biscuit each, making 4 for lunch and 1/10 

 whack of butter extra as well. Afternoon we passed cairn 

 where Birdie's ski had been left. These we picked up and 

 came on till 7.30 p.m. when the wind which had been very 

 light all day dropped, and with temp. - 20 it felt delight- 

 fully warm and sunny and clear. We have 1/10 extra 

 pemmican in the hoosh now also. My leg pretty swollen 

 again to-night." 2 They travelled 13.5 miles that day, and 

 15.7 on the next. " My leg much more comfortable, gave 

 me no pain, and I was able to pull all day, holding on to 

 the sledge. Still some oedema. We came down a hundred 

 feet or so to-day on a fairly steep gradient." 3 



They were now approaching the crevassed surfaces and 

 the ice-falls which mark the entrance to the Beardmore 

 Glacier, and February 2 was marked by another accident, 

 this time to Scott. " On a very slippery surface I came an 

 awful ' purler ' on my shoulder. It is horribly sore to-night 

 and another sick person added to our tent — three out of 

 five injured, and the most troublesome surfaces to come. 

 We shall be lucky if we get through without serious injury. 



1 Bowers. 2 Wilson. 3 Ibid. 



