THE POLAR JOURNEY 519 



amongst them and cross multitudes of bridges. We then 

 bore west a bit and got on better all the afternoon and 

 got round a good deal of the upper disturbances of the 

 falls here." 



[Scott wrote : " We are camped in a very disturbed 

 region, but the wind has fallen very light here, and our 

 camp is comfortable for the first time for many weeks." *] 



"February 6. 15 miles. We again had a forenoon of 

 trying to cut corners. Got in amongst great chasms run- 

 ning E. and W. and had to come out again. We then 

 again kept west and downhill over tremendous sastrugi, 

 with a slight breeze, very cold. In afternoon continued 

 bearing more and more towards Mount Darwin : we got 

 round one of the main lines of ice-fall and looked back up 

 to it. . . . Very cold march : many crevasses : I walking by 

 the sledge on foot found a good many : the others all on 

 ski." 



11 February 7. 15.5 miles. Clear day again and we 

 made a tedious march in the forenoon along a flat or two, 

 and down a long slope : and then in the afternoon we had 

 a very fresh breeze, and very fast run down long slopes 

 covered with big sastrugi. It was a strenuous job steer- 

 ing and checking behind by the sledge. We reached the 

 Upper Glacier Depot by 7.30 p.m. and found everything 

 right." 2 



This was the end of the plateau : the beginning of the 

 glacier. Their hard time should be over so far as the 

 weather was concerned. Wilson notes how fine the land 

 looked as they approached it : " The colour of the Domin- 

 ion Range rock is in the main all brown madder or dark 

 reddish chocolate, but there are numerous bands of yellow 

 rock scattered amongst it. I think it is composed of 

 dolerite and sandstone as on the W. side." 3 



The condition of the party was of course giving 

 anxiety : how much it is impossible to say. A good deal 

 was to be hoped from the warm weather ahead. Scott and 

 Bowers were probably the fittest men. Scott's shoulder 

 soon mended and " Bowers is splendid, full of energy and 



1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 56 1. 2 Wilson. 3 Ibid. 



